Lemieux may fire Bylsma

[Guest]

The Pittsburgh Penguins were swept in the Eastern Conference finals by the Boston Bruins, the fourth straight season they failed to reach their lofty goal of making the Stanley Cup Final.

That has some asking about coach Dan Bylsma's job security. Should he, despite all of this team's regular-season success and the Stanley Cup on his resume from four years ago, be shown the door? It seems a bit silly to me but it could very well happen, especially if Mario Lemieux wants it to happen.

Which could very well be the case, according to Larry Brooks of the New York Post.

Several individuals within the industry have told Slap Shots Penguins chairman Mario Lemieux, distressed by his team's fourth straight failure to get out of the Eastern Conference after consecutive trips to the Finals in 2008 and 2009, the latter culminating with a Stanley Cup victory, may instruct Shero to dismiss the coach.

There already is chatter out of Pittsburgh about how the Penguins failed to "adapt" or "adjust" to the Bruins in the Eastern finals sweep -- during which they never held the lead, were limited to two goals overall and were shut out on the power play. All those areas generally are the purview of the coaching staff.

To me it seems a bit rash to fire Bylsma, but something is going to change because with their expectations, the past seasons have been disappointments. We all know it's easier to fire the coach than the team, and if that's what Lemieux wants, it likely won't matter what GM Ray Shero would have to say.

http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/blog/ey...-in-pittsburgh

[wr50l]

Well, it wasn't a well coached series but I wouldn't an abnormal amount of the blame towards Bylsma.

That's two years in a row now that the Penguins have gone into the playoffs without anything resembling a Championship quality defensive defenceman. In the Summer Shero's solution, albeit a forced one, was to trade one of the better defensive centres and acquire offence in return. This year Shero went for forwards again, when he might have added Bouwmeester or Regehr instead. The Pens got through two rounds of playoff hockey against lowest seeds because they were able to score 4+ every night despite having holes on defence which New York in particular were able to expose.

It almost doesn't matter though because even if they had acquired a prime Chris Pronger their defence wouldn't be good enough to carry the team when neither Crosby nor Malkin did anything. OK, so the Bruins have Chara, Seidenberg, Bergeron, Krejci, and Horton and Lucic pinned the Pens in their own zone a lot, but no combination of Bruins should have been able to completely shut out two top 10 probably top 5 players in the world. Malkin at times looked like he didn't care and Crosby was fumbling the puck all over the place.

Byslma wouldn't last long on the dole and I don't know who Mario thinks is available who is flat out better than him.

[leaffan]

Well, it wasn't a well coached series but I wouldn't an abnormal amount of the blame towards Bylsma.

That's two years in a row now that the Penguins have gone into the playoffs without anything resembling a Championship quality defensive defenceman. In the Summer Shero's solution, albeit a forced one, was to trade one of the better defensive centres and acquire offence in return. This year Shero went for forwards again, when he might have added Bouwmeester or Regehr instead. The Pens got through two rounds of playoff hockey against lowest seeds because they were able to score 4+ every night despite having holes on defence which New York in particular were able to expose.

It almost doesn't matter though because even if they had acquired a prime Chris Pronger their defence wouldn't be good enough to carry the team when neither Crosby nor Malkin did anything. OK, so the Bruins have Chara, Seidenberg, Bergeron, Krejci, and Horton and Lucic pinned the Pens in their own zone a lot, but no combination of Bruins should have been able to completely shut out two top 10 probably top 5 players in the world. Malkin at times looked like he didn't care and Crosby was fumbling the puck all over the place.

Byslma wouldn't last long on the dole and I don't know who Mario thinks is available who is flat out better than him.

The flip side of this is pitts has one of the best young dcores in the league but theyre all 19-21 year olds and the time between when they can start playing and making a true impact is still a ways off.

[Guest]

The flip side of this is pitts has one of the best young dcores in the league but theyre all 19-21 year olds and the time between when they can start playing and making a true impact is still a ways off.

Adding even a rental piece like Regehr would have been a smart move given the youth of their defense. That's been the Capitals weakness and they've never addressed it with a long-term or even a short-term piece really.

[Ravin]

That is what is frustrating about the team right now. We have the prospects on the blue line, so much so we traded Joe Morrow away at the deadline. Scott Harrington, Olli Maatta, and Derrick Pouliot, Simon Despres - who had some playoff experience and will for sure turn into a regular dman for the team, and Robert Bortuzzo.

The core is all there, it is just blueliners take a little longer to develop into NHL players. Next year I'm sure we will start to see some guys break into the line up, and when the Pens are pushed to the cap wall, the young kids will get the job.

As for Bylsma, the big thing with him is that he has a style of dump and chase, and that isn't what the Penguins are. They are a puck possession team and Bylsma doesn't coach that. It was said the other night if he came available today, he would probably be coaching the Rangers tomorrow since he fits more of their style of hockey.

I look at the coaches out there and just wonder who would be a good fit. Tortz for sure is a no, Ruff is probably a no, and really the only guy I could see doing it is Alain Vigneault, and even then I'm not 100% sure on him coming in and doing the job.

[killgod]

...2 year extension.

Nice thread