News/views: Sabres hire Bylsma as coach

well Disco Dan loves try hard guys like himself so he should be right at home with that roster and lack of talent

You write:

"Sure, $2 million isn’t a huge amount of money for a financially healthy team like the Penguins, but it still helps."

I was led to believe by a former colleague of yours that if the Penguins didn't make the second-round of the playoffs that the team would be in financial straights.

Great, balanced assessment, Josh. Let's wish him well and move on.

I would have preferred that he went out west. I'm afraid he has learned how to adapt and will do quite well in Buffalo. It was right to move on from him but I believe he is a good coach.

I wish him well, he just hit his "sell by" date here. First thing he needs to do is establish Buffalo's game so they can "get to their game".

Very strange -
I'm happy for Dan, the Sabres and the Pens. Made sense all around.

I'd like to see the Sabres get respectable again. It might be their Penn State ties (Pegula and Batista), or it might just be the people I've met from that area and how the days of Lafontaine, Mogilny, Hasek seem so long ago..

Very happy to see we got a 3rd round pick out of this. DK, why in your opinion did Pens management not seek compensation from NJ in Shero's hiring, but chose to do so here?

I actually agree with JR here. If you hire someone away from another team as a promotion, compensation seems fair. If you hire someone who isn't working after being dismissed, he shouldn't command compensation because that could prevent him from getting another job

Thank you guys for posting legitimate hockey news. I have counted two other news sites talking about Despres. The guy was a minus 2 last night I believe, but apparently this bottom pairing defenseman has Paul Coffeys scoring ability and the defensive ability of Scott Stevens and could play goaltender if called upon and is the next coming of Lemieux... Now reading valueless articles have cost me 15 minutes of my time.

Penguins may be luckier still that Sabres did not get Conner McDavid.

Bylsma can coach him some superstars. McDavid would have loved him.

Good for Dan Bylsma!!

Great article Josh. I am glad that the Pens went for a draft pick. Now how can the Pens afford to sign Brandon Saad? ? :)

Bylsma was a great coach for us in the regular season but for whatever reason he didn't quite manage to do it in the post season after '09 and when you've got Crosby, Malkin and Letang that's just not good enough.

Best of luck to him though, he deserves a new gig. Just hope we beat him every time we meet.

8th text block typo: "Bylsma in" should be "Bylsma is".

That said, good for Buffalo. Disco has had some time to sit back and watch a lot of NHL hockey and should by now have formulated some new ideas. Not much different that sticking a struggling young player in the press box so that they can observe the game from a different perspective.

What I miss most about Bylsma are the Dan & Dan segments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FFXfCp7vGE

Any truth to the rumor that Dan Bylsma is angling to trade a draft pick to Pens for Dan Potash?

Need more Dan & Dan Show!

The draft pick they got is probably already traded by the Pens

Echoing Jeffery below, great balanced assessment Josh.

..." Dan’s system is way too complex. It just doesn’t work unless you’re perfect, and hockey isn’t a perfect game.”

"His biggest flaw is his stubbornness"

I was never a big Bylsma hater but at times his refusal to make adjustments and simplify his "game" drove me nuts.
I do think he is a good coach and wish him well in Buffalo.
He is indeed a great motivator and with no big superstars to carry the load by default he will have to get the best out of his young talent.

The only sport I really follow is baseball.
Is there a recent Pirate manager that he could be compared to?

I still don't like Rutherford's justification for not asking for compensation for Shero. Shero left a somewhat bare cabinet. Rutherford and the Pens had every right to ask for compensation, especially from a team in our division. I digress it's done and over now. Glad we got something. We deserved compensation for the last two years of the dreadful Shero/Bylsma era.

Does the $2 million have any impact on the team cap, or is money spent on coaching separate?