Former Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma joined Hockey Central at Noon on Wednesday and naturally the talk gravitated towards his old club.
Bylsma discussed the Penguins’ success so far this season, despite a battle with the injury bug and a mumps outbreak, and he didn’t hold back when pressed about his own post-season failures in Pittsburgh in recent seasons.
As far as pointing fingers at shaky goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury goes, Bylsma’s not about to scapegoat his former netminder.
“It’s easy to pin it on one guy [Fleury] and say that’s the case. Some of the struggles that Marc had, if you look back to the opening series against Philadelphia [2012 playoffs], from goalie numbers-wise, no one’s going to like those numbers when you’re under .900 save percentage,” Bylsma said. “I don’t think you can pin that all on the goaltender and say if Marc-Andre Fleury would have played better then we would have won.”
LISTEN: Bylsma on Hockey Central at Noon
“It [goaltending] wasn’t an issue two years ago. I turned to Tomas Vokoun, but it wasn’t an issue and it wasn’t why the Penguins didn’t win against the Boston Bruins in the Conference final. There are certain aspects of playing as a team and you can’t leave your goaltender out to dry and say we’re going to win if he has a .950 save percentage.”
Bylsma was quick to point to Fleury’s past successes, as well as his play this season that sees him sporting a nifty .927 save percentage and 2.10 goals-against average.
“Marc-Andre Fleury has won a lot of hockey games in the regular season and he had success in the playoffs in 2008 when they lost and in 2009 when they won,” Bylsma told the Hockey Central crew. “Right now he’s playing spectacular. That’s part of the reason why they’re a very good team right now.”
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Of course, the interview eventually shifted to Bylsma’s current status as an unemployed coach.
“I’ve certainly stepped away from the game. The most difficult time was in September when hockey started and teams got to work in training camp and I wasn’t doing that.”
“I’ve taken the time to look at the game in a different light. I’ll watch other teams play and watch other teams’ successes.”
The question on everyone’s mind, though, is how long will it be before Bylsma is back behind an NHL bench.
“I’m not necessarily ready to get back to the game tomorrow, but I’m certainly going to get back in at some point in time and look to be a coach again.”
