Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Rumors have been circling around that Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma is on the hot seat for his team’s recent elimination in the Eastern Conference finals at the hand of a Boston Bruins four-game sweep.
If Bylsma gets fired from his head coaching duties in Pittsburgh, should the New York Rangers strongly pursue Bylsma and make him a top candidate for the Rangers presently-vacant head coaching job?
The answer to that is simple. Absolutely. Dan Bylsma is a rather young head coach who has had tremendous success in this league with an outstanding 201-92-25 regular season record, all with the Penguins. In his first season as head coach with the Penguins, he lead them to their first Stanley Cup victory since the 1991-92 season and ever since has made the post season every single year.
Now, Bylsma has not had amazing success in the playoffs in recent years. This season, the Penguins were heavy favorites to win the Stanley Cup but fell short in embarrassing fashion by getting swept by the Bruins. The year before that, they lost in six games to their cross town rivals the Philadelphia Flyers.
Looking back, however, one cannot put all the blame or even most of the blame on Bylsma, as he has had very lackluster goal-tending, to say the least, these past couple seasons and their GM Ray Shero certainly didn’t help by adding old-star-caliber players like Jarome Iginla and Brendan Morrow to a roster already overwhelmed with stars.
So without a slight hesitation, if Shero pulls the trigger and fires Bylsma, I would without a doubt set up and immediate interview with him and see if an agreement can be met to put him behind the bench for The Blueshirts next season.
