Bylsma named head coach - 4-28-09

 

The Penguins removed the "interim" from Dan Bylsma's title and named him head coach today. After replacing Michel Therrien Feb 15, Bylsma (above) went 18-3-4 in 25 regular season games and directed the team that was out of the Eastern Conference top eight seedings in mid February, to fourth place in the conference. That granted the team home-ice advantage in the first round were it claimed a 4-2 series win against the rival Flyers.

EN Says: He deserves it. When the team initially promoted him from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, we questioned the move heavily. We thought it was done way too late during the course of the regular season and it was a move made out of desperation, especially considering how little experience Bylsma had as a head coach at any level. But Bylsma has done an amazing job rallying this team to a point where it was just satisfied to get into the playoffs. It's a legit Stanley Cup contender once again.

NOTE: We apologize for not having something up on this ealier. We were up pretty late last night/this morning working on the the two posts that were up this morning and slept in. We screwed up. Sorry.

(Photo: Gene J. Puskar)