Penguins Fire Head Coach Michel Therrein, Replace With Dan Bylsma From Wilkes-Barre

And to think I wasn't planning to post today.

Last night, Penguins Vice-President and Executive General Manager Ray Shero fired head coach Michel Therrein and replaced him by promoting Baby Penguins' coach Dan Bylsma from the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins.

Therrein, 135-106-31 in approximately 3 seasons with the Penguins, was just 5 days shy of having the longest tenure of any Penguins coach in the history of the franchise -- something which is just an incredible statistic.

In making the move, the Penguins also reassigned assistant coach Andre Savard to another, unspecified role within the organization. Assistant coach Mike Yeo and goaltending coach Gilles Meloche were retained. The Penguins also will move Director of Player Development Tom Fitzgerald behind the bench to assist Bylmsa.

Bylmsa, described by shero as "one of the up-and-coming coaches" in hockey, was 35-16-1-2 with the Baby Penguins this year. As of the time of his promotion, Wilkes-Barre was on an 8-game winning streak, and sits 1 point behind the division-leading Hersey Bears.

What we wouldn't do to see an 8-game winning streak in Pittsburgh?

How about that for pressure, Dan?

Bylmsa played in the NHL for 9 years with LA and Anaheim, and has been coaching for about 4/5 seasons now. Although this will be the first time he has had his own NHL bench, he has served as an assistant at the big-league level, previously having served with the New York Islanders -- the team he will face today at 2 PM in his first game as Penguins coach -- in 2005/06.

The Penguins have not announced who will take over the Wilkes-Barre bench, although Shero did say that Baby Penguins assistant Todd Reirden would continue to have a significant role with that club.

Bylmsa was quoted last night as indicating that he wanted the Penguins to play aggressively and to their strengths. Shero described him as being good with the players, demanding but firm, and "fair", something which many did not attribute to Therrein.

Although there is no word on what type of contract Bylmsa has signed, it would seem that he's techincally an "interim" coach. Shero stated that he intends to see what happens the rest of the season with Bylmsa behind the bench before deciding what to do next.

Needless to say, it will be interesting to see how the Penguins respond to Bylmsa. Although he wants the players to play a bit more up-tempo, I would expect him to retain a majority of the system in place -- at least at the beginning. That's a benefit to the big club and the Baby Penguins playing the same system, and although Shero seems high on Bylsma, let's be frank -- he's taking a big chance giving him an NHL bench as opposed to someone like Peter Laviolette because Bylmsa is obviously unproven at the big-league level. It's very possible that the continuity in systems is one of the reasons why Shero went with Bylmsa. After all, how easy is to to make a coaching change mid or late in the season like this and then fundamentally alter the team's style of play?? It's easier to stick with what the players know.

Personally, I hope the Penguins continue to play a style similar to what they have done the last few years. I don't want them to turn into a run-and-gun team. They are most effective playing solid defense and using their offensive skill on the counterattack -- as last year's successful run to the Stanley Cup Finals has proven. In fact, I would argue that, although there have been many reasons for their free-fall this year, their poor defensive play ranks near the top of that list. They need to be much better in that area. Regardless of what they do, let's hope they get a boost from Bylmsa's hiring because they need all the points they can get right now.

Meanwhile, at-least one player, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, has indicated that he was "shocked" by Therrein's dismissal. I'm not too sure how that could be, since it's obvious to all of the players, fans and everyone associated with the team that the Penguins have underachieved this season.

As for Therrein, he took the fall for the Penguins' drop in graces -- and the standings -- this year. Many will argue that Shero waited too long to dismiss Therrein. That's a hard call. I said before, and still believe, that despite his misgivings (frequent line changes, abrasiveness, etc.) Therrein deserved some rope. He helped turn this franchise around, leading them to a 100+ point season 2 years ago in the 4th biggest improvement (47 points) from one season to the next in NHL history together with the team's first playoff berth in 5 seasons, then helped get the group to within 2 wins of the Stanley Cup this year.

You can't just toss aside a guy who makes that kind of contribution at the first sign of trouble.

That said, it has been obvious to everyone that something has been wrong with this team for months. Sure, they are missing pieces and have suffered through some injuries, and neither of those things are Therrein's fault. But they had meaningful injuries last year, too, and still found a way to succeed.

I believe the biggest problem has been the team's lack of urgency. They haven't shown the necessary desire and work-ethic all season long. Of course, motivation falls on the players, too. They certainly aren't blameless and deserve as much -- or more -- of the fault for where they sit in the standings as Therrein does.

However, if Therrein lost the ability to get them to respond -- and it clearly looks that way -- he had to go. The Penguins simply failed to compete on too many nights this year. They have blown too many leads and just not shown up against teams they should beat relatively handily on most nights. Some of the fault for that has to be on the coaching staff.

Maybe the move should have been made a few weeks ago, but I don't think it should have been made in, say, December.

Shero, who said that he didn't like the direction the team had been going in for the last few weeks, isn't immune from criticism for the team's struggles this season. To his credit, however, he made it very clear last night that he was as accountable as anyone, and also indicated that the players were somewhat responsible as well. Although Shero said he just "wasn't sure where everything went wrong" with the team and/or coaching this year, he went out of his way to thank Therrein for his loyalty and "significant contributions" to the franchise the last 3 or so years, noting how not many people expected he and Therrein to stick together for so long.

I'd be very surprised if Shero doesn't make additional moves -- this time involving some players -- before the March 4 trade deadline. It's known that he's in active talks with several teams throughout the league, so time will tell whether putting Bylmsa behind the bench is his main chess piece in trying to get the team to respond and play well enough to get into the post-season, or whether more is coming.

Everything starts this afternoon on the Island.

So much for a boring, holiday game against the last-place Islanders, eh??