Dan Bylsma

Daniel Brian Bylsma[1] (/ˈblzmə/; born September 19, 1970) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is currently an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is the former head coach of the Buffalo Sabres. He also is the former head coach of the United States men's national ice hockey team. Prior to coaching the Sabres, Bylsma was the head coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins, whom he led to a Stanley Cup championship in 2009, just four months after being promoted to Pittsburgh's head coaching position.

Dan Bylsma
Bylsma pictured during the Pittsburgh Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup championship parade
Born (1970-09-19) September 19, 1970
Grand Haven, Michigan, U.S.
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 215 lb (98 kg; 15 st 5 lb)
Position Right Wing
Shot Left
Played for Los Angeles Kings
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
NHL Draft 109th overall, 1989
Winnipeg Jets
Playing career 19922004

Prior to coaching the Penguins, he played as a forward in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and coached in the American Hockey League (AHL). He was drafted in the sixth round (109th overall) of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, by the Winnipeg Jets.

Early life

During his high school days, Bylsma was a standout in many sports, including golf, baseball, and ice hockey. Bylsma graduated from Western Michigan Christian High School where he won the Class D golf individual championship as a freshman. He also played baseball and was the starting left fielder as a freshman on Christian's 1985 State championship team. In his senior year, he was a member of the all-state all-class "Dream Team" (the best player at each position in the state – all classes), and won many regional baseball honors.

Bylsma played amateur hockey in Muskegon Junior Hockey, Norton Shores Recreational Leagues, and Grand Rapids GRAHA before playing Junior "B" hockey in Canada for the St. Marys Lincolns and the Oakville Blades of the Ontario Hockey Association. Bylsma went on to play college hockey at Bowling Green State University from 1988–1992 and was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in his freshman year. He was twice selected to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association All Academic Team and once earned Honorable Mention. He was a Bowling Green Scholar Athlete all four years and won the Jack Gregory Award for the highest grade point average on the team in his Sophomore season and the Howard Brown Coaches' Award for excellence in his senior year. Bylsma is one of the few players in the CCHA to have scored a shorthanded goal while his team was two men short.

Professional playing career

Despite being drafted by the Winnipeg Jets, Bylsma never played a game for them, and was signed by the Los Angeles Kings in the summer of 1994. During the 1994–95 labor stoppage, Bylsma earned the nickname "Disco Dan". The nickname was adopted by teammates while playing for a minor league team in Phoenix. Veteran goaltender Byron Dafoe already went by Bylsma's former moniker of "Bysie" so the name "Disco Dan" was given due to Bylsma's penchant for dancing in the locker room.[2]

He played parts of five seasons for the Kings, acting as a defensive forward. In his first season, when he played only four games for the Kings, he was captain of their International Hockey League (IHL) affiliate, the Phoenix Roadrunners. He also played for the Long Beach Ice Dogs, who were the Kings' IHL affiliate after the Roadrunners folded in 1997. Bylsma played 95 American Hockey League (AHL) games with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, the Lowell Lock Monsters, the Springfield Falcons, the Albany River Rats, the Moncton Hawks and the Rochester Americans, and reached the Calder Cup Finals in 1994.

Signed as a free agent by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the summer of 2000, Bylsma was a steadying influence on a rebuilding Anaheim team, and was made an alternate captain. In his second season, he set a career high in points (17).

Bylsma struggled his entire career to stay in the NHL, mostly due to a lack of natural offensive ability (his primary role in the NHL had always been penalty killing). Injuries took a toll in later years, and before being put on waivers in January 2004, Bylsma missed 31 games due to knee surgery. He retired from playing following the 2003–04 season.

Head Coach Dan Bylsma, Pittsburgh Penguins, Morning Skate in Raleigh, December 3, 2011.

Coaching career

Bylsma served as an assistant coach with the AHL's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks (2004–05) and the NHL's New York Islanders (2005–06). During the 2008–09 season, Bylsma coached the Penguins' AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

On February 15, 2009, with the Pittsburgh Penguins struggling to make the playoffs, the Penguins organization announced that it had relieved head coach Michel Therrien of his duties and had promoted Bylsma to serve as interim head coach of the team.[3] At 38, he was the youngest head coach in the NHL at the time. Through his first 25 games as Penguins' coach, his 18–3–4 record amounted to 40 points—the second most of any coach in NHL history through their first 25 games.[4] On April 28, Penguins General Manager Ray Shero announced that Bylsma had been named permanent head coach of the team.[5] On June 12, 2009, Bylsma led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup championship, becoming the 14th coach and the second mid-season replacement to win the Stanley Cup in their first season. While the win made him just the fifth ever American-born coach to win the cup, he also became the third American in the last five seasons to do so. Bylsma was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the league's most outstanding coach for the 2010–2011 season due to the Penguins still being a contender for the Stanley Cup without his two star players Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

On April 22, 2013, Bylsma became the fastest NHL coach ever[6] to reach 200 wins with a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators. On June 30 of the same year, Bylsma was appointed head coach of the United States Olympic Hockey Team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. On January 7, 2014, a month before coaching at the Winter Olympics, Bylsma became the winningest coach in Penguins history (233 wins) with a 5-4 shootout victory over the Vancouver Canucks. On April 4, 2014, Bylsma became the fastest NHL coach to reach 250 wins, leading his team to a 4-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. He accomplished the feat in 395 games.[7] On June 6, 2014, Bylsma was fired by the Pittsburgh Penguins, shortly after Jim Rutherford was announced as the team's new general manager.[8]

Bylsma remained on the Penguins' payroll, with no job in the organization, through the 2014–15 season. Following that season, the Penguins granted him permission to seek employment elsewhere. On May 28, 2015, Bylsma was named head coach of the Buffalo Sabres, signing a five-year contract.[9] Bylsma was the Sabres second choice for coach after Mike Babcock, who they heavily pursued before Babcock signed with the divisional rival Toronto Maple Leafs.[10][11]

On April 20, 2017, Bylsma was fired by the Sabres after two seasons.[12] The transaction came after rumors leaked that Bylsma was at odds with many of the Sabres players, including star Jack Eichel, who allegedly stated he would not sign a contract extension with the team had Bylsma remained head coach.[13][14][15] On June 22, 2018, Bylsma was hired as an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings.[16]

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GPGAPtsPIM GPGAPtsPIM
1986–87 Oakville Blades CJHL 10491321
1986–87 St. Marys Lincolns WOHL 2714284221
1987–88 St. Marys Lincolns WOHL 4030396933 881826
1988–89 Bowling Green University CCHA 39471116
1989–90 Bowling Green University CCHA 4413173032
1990–91 Bowling Green University CCHA 409122148
1991–92 Bowling Green University CCHA 3411142524
1992–93 Greensboro Monarchs ECHL 6025356066 101110
1992–93 Rochester Americans AHL 20110
1993–94 Greensboro Monarchs ECHL 2514163052
1993–94 Albany River Rats AHL 30112
1993–94 Moncton Hawks AHL 5012162825 2134731
1994–95 Phoenix Roadrunners IHL 8119234241 94484
1995–96 Los Angeles Kings NHL 40000
1995–96 Phoenix Roadrunners IHL 7822204248 41012
1996–97 Los Angeles Kings NHL 7936932
1997–98 Los Angeles Kings NHL 65391233 20000
1997–98 Long Beach Ice Dogs IHL 82350
1998–99 Los Angeles Kings NHL 80002
1998–99 Springfield Falcons AHL 20222
1998–99 Long Beach Ice Dogs IHL 581081853 40008
1999–00 Los Angeles Kings NHL 6436955 30000
1999–00 Long Beach Ice Dogs IHL 60332
1999–00 Lowell Lock Monsters AHL 21122
2000–01 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 82191022
2001–02 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 77891728
2002–03 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 3914512 110112
2003–04 Mighty Ducks of Anaheim NHL 110000
2003–04 Cincinnati Mighty Ducks AHL 3633653 81124
IHL totals 2315357110144 1754914
NHL totals 429194362184 160112

Awards and records

  • 2011– Jack Adams Award
  • 2018- Raasch award winner

NHL coaching record

Regular season Post season
Team Year GWLOTLPtsFinish GWLResult
PIT2008–09 25183440
(99)[1]
2nd in Atlantic24168Won Stanley Cup (DET)
PIT2009–10 82472871012nd in Atlantic1376Lost in Conference Semifinals (MTL)
PIT2010–11 82492581062nd in Atlantic734Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (TBL)
PIT2011–12 82512561082nd in Atlantic624Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (PHI)
PIT2012–13 48[2]36120721st in Atlantic1587Lost in Conference Finals (BOS)
PIT2013–14 82512471091st in Metropolitan1376Lost in Second Round (NYR)
BUF2015–16 82353611817th in AtlanticMissed playoffs
BUF2016–17 82333712788th in AtlanticMissed playoffs
Total56532019055695784335
  • 1 When Bylsma joined the Penguins after the 57th game of the season the team had earned 59 points. The team earned 40 points with Bylsma as head coach.
  • 2 Only 48 regular season games played due to lockout.

References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 6, 2013. Retrieved August 25, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. Anderson, Shelly (April 14, 2009). "NHL Playoffs: Bylsma's success reads like fish story". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved June 19, 2009.
  3. "Dan Bylsma Named Interim Head Coach of Pittsburgh Penguins". Pittsburgh Penguins. February 15, 2009. Archived from the original on June 1, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-19.
  4. Starkey, Joe (April 12, 2009). "The book on Penguins coach Bylsma". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Archived from the original on April 13, 2009.
  5. Molinari, Dave (April 28, 2009). "Bylsma named Penguins head coach; he's no longer 'interim'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  6. , Pittsburgh Penguins at Ottawa Senators Game Recap 4/22/13
  7. http://penguins.nhl.com/gamecenter/en/recap?id=2013021150
  8. https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=454144
  9. Yerdon, Joe (May 29, 2015). "Dan Bylsma hired as coach of Buffalo Sabres". NHL.com. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
  10. "Reports: 'Livid' Sabres thought they had Babcock". Sportsnet. Rogers Communications. May 20, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  11. "Dan Bylsma to Sabres: Latest Contract Details, Comments and Reaction". Bleacher Report. Turner Broadcasting. May 28, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  12. "Tim Murray, Dan Bylsma fired by Sabres". NHL.com. NHL Enterprise, L.P. April 20, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  13. "Mike Harrington: Bylsma looking ahead but how much time does he have left?". The Buffalo News. Berkshire Hathaway. April 10, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  14. "Report: Eichel won't sign extension if Bylsma remains coach". The Buffalo News. Berkshire Hathaway. April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  15. "Sabres release GM Tim Murray, coach Dan Bylsma". ESPN. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  16. Kujawa, Kyle (June 22, 2018). "Red Wings hire Dan Bylsma as assistant coach". Detroit Red Wings. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
Preceded by
Todd Richards
Head coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins
2008–2009
Succeeded by
Todd Reirden
Preceded by
Michel Therrien
Head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins
2009–2014
Succeeded by
Mike Johnston
Preceded by
Dave Tippett
Jack Adams Award
2011
Succeeded by
Ken Hitchcock
Preceded by
Ted Nolan
Head coach of the Buffalo Sabres
2015–2017
Succeeded by
Phil Housley
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