Dan Bylsma's Last Shot

The Stanley Cup finals started last night with a truly sensational game between Chicago and Boston.  Recency bias and hyperbole make for a bad combination so I’ll resist the urge quantify its greatness.  Suffice to say it was the kind of game that drives many of us to believe that there is nothing better in sports than post season hockey.  For me it had everything; everything except the Pittsburgh Penguins.

That is ironic because yesterday marked the 4 year anniversary of arguably the greatest game in Penguins’ history.  Their gut wrenching game 7 victory in Detroit was perhaps the seminal moment for a franchise that has enjoyed far greater success than it’s credited.

In the aftermath of their elusive third championship the club’s future potential seemed boundless.  A once in a generation assemblage of young stars had matured to full potential, winning a Stanley Cup well before their time.  The general manager was locking in those stars on manageable long-term contracts.  And for the first time in their history, they seemed to have the perfect head coach to steer the ship.  There was every reason to believe that cup celebrations would be the norm for this group.

And yet as the finals kicked off last night the only Penguin discussion we were contemplating was Ray Shero’s emphatic endorsement of Dan Byslma as his coach for next season.  It’s a worthwhile debate, especially since I considered Disco Dan’s continued employment an even money proposition at best when I awoke on Wednesday.

Taken in a vacuum, one can just as easily conclude that Bylsma is or is not responsible for the Pens crash and burn performance against Boston.  His supporters state that he cannot be blamed for the sudden and complete disappearance of the team’s offensive stars.  His detractors state that he must be held accountable for the club’s lackluster play and lack of composure in the first two games of the series; and for getting swept with perhaps the most talented roster in the NHL.  Both arguments are accurate to a point.

I made it clear on Monday that my biggest issue with Bylsma was consistent lack of discipline shown by his team over the entire playoff run.  It manifested last year against Philly. And it manifested on several occasions before the conference finals; most notably with the inexcusable short-handed goal the Pens allowed to Ottawa in the waning seconds of game 3.  But it was never more brutally obvious than in the first two games against the Bruins. 

The Penguins ardently refused to make the smart simple plays necessary to succeed this time of year.  As noted in Monday’s blog, I’ve watched Chicago’s defensemen repeatedly defuse pressure in their own zone with simple bank passes of the boards.  In contrast the Penguins have Kris Letang, the Brett Favre of NHL defensemen, constantly trying to stickhandle through pressure or worse yet, throw blind backhand passes up the middle of the ice.   

At any given moment, the players are responsible for not executing properly.  When the same issue continues unabated for two years it falls primarily on the coach.

Given that, Bylsma should not be evaluated in the vacuum of one series; rather by his overall body of work.  And that is an eminently complex affair, as Bylsma’s track record is emminently complex. 

If it were simply the juxtaposition of regular season success against playoff disappointment it would be an easy call.  It’s not.  Not when the same coach who oversaw four consecutive post season flame outs also lead one of the great championship runs in NHL history.  Not when this year’s loss, as disappointing as it was, occurred in the Eastern Conference Finals.

This situation best parallels Bill Cowher and the Steelers, circa January 2005.  The franchise was at a crossroads after Cowher’s 15-1 team was blown out of Heinz Field by New England in the AFC Championship game.  It marked the 4^th time in 14 years that Cowher’s team lost an AFC title game at home.  And it continued a confounding trend of regular season dominance followed by playoff collapse.  At that time there was fairly compelling, albeit circumstantial evidence that Cowher simply could not lead the Steelers to a championship.

The Steelers stuck it out with Cowher in 2005 and he ultimately delivered.  In so doing they established their franchise as a model of organizational stability.   That is in stark contrast to the Penguins who for most of their history have treated coaches as interchangeable parts.

So I salute the Penguins for once embracing stability over chaos.  I salute them for finally accepting the possibility that the players should be held accountable as much if not more so than the coach.  This is very much a new concept at the New Energy Barn and would seem to indicate a maturation of the organization.  It’s also a testament to the coaching street cred Bylsma earned though winning that championship in 2009.         

I do wonder however if the Penguins are standing not so much behind Bylsma as they are Sidney Crosby (and to a lesser degree Evgeni Malkin).  This is an organization with a track record of terrible coaching decisions made solely to appease their superstars.  How else do you justify firing Scotty Bowman for Eddie Johnston or in any way, shape, or form hiring Ivan Hlinka?  Given that history, and Mario Lemieux’s current ownership percentage, it’s not beyond consideration that Bylsma’s greatest coaching asset is that he keeps Sid the Kid happy.

I’m not saying definitely that is the case, but I cannot rule it out, especially when Bylsma’s extension precedes Malkin’s by just 24 hours.  We learned from the Johnston and Hlinka debacles that hiring coaches solely to placate superstars is a recipe for post season disappointment.  It’s even greater a concern when you factor in that Crosby, as much as anybody in the organization need to step up his post season performance going forward.  That is not going to happen if the head coach is in his pocket.

Regardless, the decision is made and Bylsma is staying, at least for one more year.  I am neither endorsing nor disputing it for all the reasons mentioned above.  I’m not yet convinced that Bylsma is the problem or the solution to this team’s ills.  That said, results speak for themselves and Bylsma’s window is clearly inching towards closure.

I will say this.  The Penguins cannot trot out the same coach, same system, and same players that have endured four consecutive playoff failures.  Most coaches would not survive such a run; especially when the last two were catastrophic in nature.  The team has refused to embrace the most critical components of playoff hockey success in spite of giving continual lip service to doing just that.  This means either that Bylsma is failing to deliver the message or the players are failing to receive it.  By hitching his wagon to the head coach, Shero is essentially stating the latter.

This means Shero absolutely must make personnel changes in the offseason.  He must deploy a better and more committed group of defensive players around 87 and 71.  He must find players who will embrace the need for structured and disciplined hockey, even when playing with superior offensive talent.  And he probably needs to accept that it is financially untenable to keep Letang or Marc-Andre Fleury on the roster at this point.

Even assuming such changes, Bylsma still needs to get the message through to his star players.  The Blackhawks have proved throughout the playoffs that a team with high end talent can be successful in the post season by playing the right way.  Doing it against Boston last night further crystalized the point.  Bylsma has been given one last shot to get that message across.  If he fails, it will likely be his last.

The End of the Line for Marc-Andre Fleury

Over the years I’ve been a passionate supporter, and defender of Marc-Andre Fleury.

That has not always been easy given the legion of Fleury critics amongst both Penguin fans and the local and national media.  There were many who chose to blame Fleury for every Penguin ill while downplaying or even ignoring his contributions to their success.  I never understood it; especially when you combined Fleury’s track record of victories with his eminently likeable personality.

So let me start off by acknowledging what should be but is not assumed to be obvious; Marc-Andre Fleury was a critical component to the Penguins success over the past seven years.  More to the point, he was a critical component of back-to-back Stanley Cup finals runs and the franchise’s elusive 3^rd championship in 2009.  His game 7 saves on future hall of famers Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Lidstrom are rightfully considered the stuff of legend.

He was part of the foundation; a core superstar.  There was every reason to believe he would mind the nets in the Burgh for another decade.  And as we sit here today; I see it as unlikely he will be a Penguin next month.

Simply put, Marc-Andre Fleury is playing himself right out of Pittsburgh.

Another concession to the obvious; goaltending is fairly low on the list of reasons the Penguins were man handled by Boston in game 2.  Before we get to Fleury or Tomas Vokoun, a good hard look needs to be taken at Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin, and just about every other front line player on the roster.  The head coach and general manager are hardly above scrutiny either.

That does not change the fact that the Marc-Andre Fleury we once knew seems long gone, at least when the season becomes best 4 out of 7.  What remains is a goaltender with zero post season confidence, one that seems incapable of making even the most basic saves on a consistent basis.  It’s a stunning and perhaps unprecedented fall for an elite Pittsburgh athlete in my lifetime.

Fleury’s issues are not about physical ability and I think we all know it.  There are few goaltenders in hockey as athletically gifted as MAF; a point he continually demonstrates with superior regular season play.  Fleury’s critics like to point out the overall talent on the Penguins or his comparatively pedestrian statistics (excluding wins of course).  In so doing, they conveinently overlook the Penguins often lackadaisical approach to defense.  Does anybody truly believe that Brian Elliott would post a 1.95 goals against average playing for this team?

No, Fleury’s current post season issues are unequivocally between the ears.  His confidence seems to come undone after a bad goal or two and once it does his entire game breaks down. I’m not talking about struggling to control rebounds or giving up the occasional soft goal.  I’m talking about a goaltender that seems to lose even the most basic constructs of his position in the post season.  When you juxtapose that against his regular season play and early career playoff success, it’s impossible to come to any other conclusion.

The irony is that this is the exact criticism Fleury faced during the early part of his career; even though it was totally unfounded by the results on the ice.  I wrote an impassioned defense of Fleury after he lead the Penguins to the 2009 Cup pointing out that but for one bit of bad luck at the World Junior Championships, there was nothing in his actual resume that substantiated his reputation as a big game flake.  Fleury’s performance from 2006-07 through that 7^th game in Detroit was exemplary; especially given the team’s aforementioned aversion to strong defensive hockey.

You could make a convincing argument that Fleury’s post season play was trending downward in 2010 and 2011; although I maintain he played better in the hopeless Tampa series than he gets credit for.  In both the Montreal and Tampa series there was at least a debatable premise regarding Fleury’s level of culpability.  You could argue accurately that he was not the reason the Pens lost either series; but just as accurately that he did not consistently raise his level to be the difference maker.   I would distill it down to this; he was part of the problem in those losses but by no means the root of it.  

The issue the last two years is that the quality of his post season work is no longer debatable.  He’s gone from trending downward to a complete train wreck.  His play has become indefensible; in spite of meager efforts from his coach and teammates to do just that.  Keep in mind this critique is coming from an unabashed Fleury fan; one who was often branded an apologist in my persistent battles with his critics.

To be fair, the Penguins played HISTORICALLY bad defense in front of Fleury in last year’s loss to Philly.  They broke down first and he follow suit with a meltdown of his own.  This year he collapsed of his own volition, even if the team’s defensive work against the Islanders was less than inspired.  Vokoun’s strong performance in relief made that abundantly clear. 

My opinions about Vokoun’s abilities are also a matter of public record on this blog.  I’ve never thought him better than a second tier starter, if that.  Fleury at his best is the superior goaltender.  So it should not be taken lightly when I state that for better or for worse, Vokoun should be the only option the Penguins consider in goal the remainder of the post season, however long that should be. 

That is exactly how I expect this to play out. 

Dan Bylsma is smart enough not to bury a popular and accomplished veteran in the media and thus tends to downplays Fleury’s struggles at every turn.  In reality, I believe he’s lost all confidence in MAF, an issue no doubt compounded by concerns about his own jobs security.  No matter Bylsma’s public disposition on the topic or the journalistic meanderings of Puck Daddy and others, I cannot fathom that Fleury will start another game; barring injury to Vokoun.  The hope is that the team rediscovers its form and that Vokoun for lack of a better term can “Osgood” them to a championship.

I truly believe that last night was Fleury’s last shot.   In a game where the situation was already bleak he was given one last opportunity to resuscitate his game. The hope was that Fleury would rediscover his 2008/2009 post season form; or for that matter his 2013 regular season form, either of which is a better option than Vokoun.  Instead Fleury emphatically reaffirmed Bylsma’s decision to take away his net with another very shaky effort.

In the bigger picture, Fleury’s time in the Burgh is likely at its end.  The team as currently constructed is in the heart of their championship window.  They cannot support a goaltender who in back-to back years has demonstrated a profound inability to perform in the post season; let alone one who takes $5 Million annually off their salary cap.  The issue is magnified against the specter of another disappointing post season finish and the team’s imposing future contact obligations.  Kudos to Ray Shero for having the foresight to hedge his bets this season with Vokoun but realistically, he’s not the long-term answer either.

Fleury will land on his skates; he’s too talented not too.  And a new, lower pressure environment might be exactly what he needs to rebuild his fragile confidence.   I hope it happens for him, I just do not see it happening in the Burgh.

Bruins the Cure for My Penguin Depression

I’ve never been a person who treads on the misfortunate of others to make myself feel better in bad times. Sadness is sadness and it should not be relative to other people.

And yet...

Even as I continue to deal with the shock and disappointment resulting from the Penguins season ending meltdown against Montreal, even as I try and come to grips with my Penguin sadness, I find myself falling back on this disturbingly comforting thought; at least I’m not a Boston Bruin’s fan today.

I’ve been watching sports for the better part of three decades and I’m fairly certain that I’ve never seen a choke to rival what the Bruins did over the last week. Seriously, not once in 30 years. This one stands on its own.

It was not sufficient for Boston to blow a 3 games to none lead; making them just the 4th team in North American sports history to do so. Such and accomplishment is cause for more than sufficient infamy in and of itself. No, the Bruins had to take it one giant step further. They somehow gathered themselves in the face of the monumental pressure of said choke and stormed out to a 3 to 0 lead…AT HOME…in game 7. And then, faster than you can say James Van Riemsdyk, they blew that lead as well.

I wonder if Boston coach Claude Julien is already sending out resumes. At the very least, I hope he’s hired a good head hunter. I will be shocked beyond shocked if he’s still employed by this time next week.

Just to be clear here, I’m not ignoring the accomplishments of the Eastern Pennsylvania Orange and Black Goon Squad, while I bash Boston. I may hate anything and everything related to that hockey team but even I have to tip my cap to this. Yes the Bruins choked but you have to give the Goons credit for making it happen with incredible resiliency. I do not know if they will win the Stanley Cup, but I’ll give them credit for displaying the heart of a champion. That’s something that could not often be said about the Goons going back to the start of the Lindros era.

Never in a million years did I think I would write something like this but it is sadly true. If the Penguins had shown half as much resiliency in their series as the Goons did in theirs, I would be writing about a second all Pennsylvania conference finals in three years. Remember, they won in spite of rotating third string goalies and playing parts of the series without Jeff Carter and Simone (American Cheese) Gagne.

See how bad the Penguins’ loss really is? It puts me in the awkward position of praising Philadelphia and thanking Boston. Thanking the Bruins for making me realize that in sports, no matter how bad things look, it can be worse.

I know the Penguins let us down against Montreal. I know that to a man, they underachieved and played poorly. And yet as a fan, I find that loss far less agonizing than what occurred in Bean Town. For better or for worse, we could see the signs of it coming all through the series. The lack of consistent offense, especially at even strength, the defensive zone breakdowns, the MIA status of Sid and Geno, and the struggles of MAF made it abundantly clear. At least to me.

In contrast, imagine if the Pens had gone up 3 games to none on Montreal and then lost the series. Imagine if they had jumped out to a 3 to 0 lead in game 7…ON HOME ICE…and lost. I’m sorry but that would have been about a million times worse.

So thank you Boston from the bottom of my heart. You took a genuinely lousy week in my hockey life made it just a tiny bit easier to accept.

With that, my completely meaningless third round playoff predictions. I mean I’m 5 and 7 through two rounds which means a reasonably trained monkey, or Liverant, could probably do just as well or better. Since said monkey was not available in time for this column…

Montreal Canadiens (8) vs the Eastern Pennsylvania Orange and Black Goon Squad (7)

I’ll just come out and say it…I have no clue. I’ve never been as sure of anything in sports as I was that these two teams would not get out of the first round of the playoffs and here they are in the conference finals. So how to I pick a winner?

My natural bias is to predict Montreal for two good reasons.

First, I just watched the Habs take out the Pens (every darn stinking moment of it) and before that the Craps and look darn impressive doing so.

Second, and perhaps more important, they are playing Philadelphia.

Just so nobody thinks I’m going soft here; the Goons are still the Goons. I may have devoted 200 or so words to praising them above but it’s a long way from that to predicting them to go to the Stanley Cup finals.

Beyond that, Jaroslav Halak has gone Giggy on the eastern conference and there is little reason to believe it will stop here. In deference to Rosie, I will stop knocking the Goons goaltending. I figured Brian Boucher and now Michael Leighton would be no match for either Tuukka Rask or the ghost of Marty Brodeur and I was wrong both times. So I will not even mention my belief that Leighton does not match up with Halak (oops).

Besides, it was not just a one man effort for the Habs. Michael Cammalleri was brilliant offensively and the entire Montreal blue line should take a bow for their performance. I will also credit the Montreal coaching for some exceptional strategy.

Finally, I do think Montreal has this team of destiny thing going for them. The ghosts of Les Habitants have awoken north of the boarder…Habs in 6.

San Jose Sharks (1) vs Chicago Blackhawks (2)

Ok, a few off ice thoughts on this series.

First, we’ve avoided the DOOM scenario. For those of you who do not know, my lovely fiancé and rabid Blackhawks fan Emily has been predicting DOOM since last summer. DOOM in this case was defined as a Penguin/Blackhawk Stanley Cup final starting 48 hours after our wedding. Two weeks ago she announced…”ALL ROADS LEAD TO DOOM.”

To be crystal clear, I’m not happy about the way we avoided doom. I’m just saying that for better or for worse, we did avoid it. Again, give me lemons and I’ll squeeze out some drop of lemonade.

Second, I’m not unbiased here either. I’ve lived in Chicago for 15 years and I genuinely like the Hawks. They’ve put together a team that is very easy to like. I will not say that a Hawks Stanley Cup victory will make me feel better about the Pens losing. That being said, with our boys out of it and my conflicts reluctantly resolved, I’ll be with my fiancé rooting hard for the Hawks. Quite honestly, I think it’s their year, just as I did the Pens last year.

The Hawks remind me quite a bit of last year’s Penguins. They are a deep, talented, and versatile team, with a lot of guys that quite frankly are easy to like. They play an up tempo, entertaining brand of hockey. No trap in the windy city, coach Q will not allow it. And I thoroughly enjoyed watching them slice up those slash and run pansies from Vancouver.

Indeed, if the Scotty Bowman’s kid had not thrown a 12 year, big money contract at some Slovakian guy who used to play for Detroit I would have nary a beef with the current team. Well with the caveat that I do not lose any sleep over Dale Tallon’s hangover induced signing of Cristobal Huet two years ago.

Even the Huet move has been overcome thanks to the strong play of Antti Niemi. Here is something Pittsburgh fans should appreciate. Many in the “never let the facts get in the way of a good story” national media and many uninformed fans try to play the Hawks goaltending as a weakness. Much like Fleury bashing, it’s a lazy and convenient story. And it’s just not true.

Huet was terrible the second half of the year and I’ll give you that Niemi is inexperienced. That being said, Niemi has been solid between the pipes all year. He ripped the starting job from Huet, played far better than the washed up Nikoli Khabibuhlin did last season, and convinced the Hawks not to trade for another netminder. Suggesting he was a better than Luongo last series is on par with stating that Disque has thicker hair than I do.

The Hawks road will not be easy. You’ll note that I’m no longer referring to San Jose as the Chokes. They were brilliant against Detroit and that includes the usual fold up like a cheap suit trio of Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Johnny Nabokov. They are getting great play from Eric Pavelski (or is it Joe Lewbart?). From top to bottom, they’ve showed a post season character that was not evident in prior years.

That being said, I like what I see from the Hawks. I believe that Rocky’s boys are on the road to ending a half century Stanley Cup drought, and even the new and improved Sharks will not stand in their way. In spite of getting zero goals from their prized offseason acquisition…Hawks in 6.

And if I’m wrong…well at least I’m not a Bruin fan.