Rylan wrote:Scott wrote:Rylan wrote:All coaches have a system that they don't deviate from. That is a joke argument. Do you think Torts changes his system? Or Ruff? Or Babcock? Or any other bloody coach? If you honestly think that that is a reason to fire Bylsma you are going to be sorely disappointed in life. Fire Bylsma for other reasons, but because he doesn't change his system is a silly one.
And he did in fact change things by tightening up the teams play in the Boston series. The team played a better defensive game which was an adjustment that everyone clamored for. The Pens had opportunities to finish, just because they didn't doesn't make it Bylsma's fault. Goodness me.
STOP! Just STOP!
Nobody hear is advocating that Bylsma do a 180 degree with the system out of desperation. Everyone one of the above coaches with the possible exception of Tortorella because he is just as arrogant and ignorant as Bylsma....make changes and adjustments all the time. They tweak things here and there to counter what the other team is trying to counter. It is a chess match and Bylsma plays it with checkers.
The Wings had no business this year beating the Ducks. They did. They had no business taking the Hawks to over time in game seven while being up 3 games to 1. How did that happen? The players? No. Babcock worked the worlds greatest miracle and fell just a tick short. Regardless he adapts, adjusts and whatever else the situation calls for.
Oh and please spare us all that Bylsma all of a sudden changed the defense around to be tighter and better. In case you didn't know I will tell you....Boston was looking for one more goal than the Pens scored. Get it? They were not...are not...and will never be with that lineup anything a team has to make some magical defensive adjustment for. Bylsma did nothing of that...it was just Boston being Boston. Boston not scoring was more a product of how they are on offense than Bylsma doing anything. This I promise you
So...Bylsma gets all blame and never credit. Got it. If you don't think the Pens played differently games 3 and 4 compared to 1 and 2 you are being just as biased as you are making me sound. So please spare me, because unlike you Shero and management agree with me.

You're talking about games in which the the team was down two games to none. You're talking about games in which the Penguins were playing not at home, but on the road. As many fans, sports columnists, and players point out, teams play differently on the road than they do at home. It's an entirely different atmosphere, one that requires a different idea of how to win from the moment the puck is dropped.
(Not to mention a PP that made no changes beyond adding Martin with 40 seconds to go on our last PP in the Boston series--a PMart that apparently had a severe enough injury we could not even imagine the impact. Or how wise it was to take TK out of the line up after proving his speed was integral to undoing the Islanders and making Vokoun a proven goalie. Well, as Bylsma would say, Fleury's proven back up come this fall.)
I agree with you that Bylsma is a good coach. The guy gets players behind him and he gets them moving north/south and on a mission. I think that if he is fired tomorrow that he will be hired almost immediately and with a pedigree that deserves support. I don't believe that, given his track record, he is the right coach to take this team to the promised land. He enforces a system that works in the regular season and refuses to make the necessary alterations come the playoffs. He enforces a gap between D and forwards that is easy to bridge, a stretch pass that at best hits off the high wall and lands on a forward's stick, and a D corps that is hoping to goodness a forward is there to help when the opposing forward takes them into the wall.
Bylsma doesn't make series altering changes. He makes small alterations while the ship is sinking and its captain should be on the bridge (don't mind the iceberg, sir. The PP is fine--post game 3).
Shero and management agreeing with you doesn't entail you being right. It means that a team that has faltered for the last few years is sticking to its guns.
If the organization opts to keep Bylsma, I hope it's the right decision. I hope that I am wrong. I am a fan of this team and I want them to win. I would love for Bylsma to be the coach next spring when Crosby lifts the fabled chalice above his head. If it takes a more than a year, let's have at it! But in this moment, after years of failure, I see no reason to give Bylsma the confidence of a coach desperate to win. All I see is a coach sticking to his game plan and calling the players out on failing to do what he believes is right. Hell, when they do right, they're still doing wrong (Vokoun).
But I'm just a fan. Let's see what the organization decides tomorrow.