First coach to get fired?

[penguins2946]

Between Oates, Byslma, Laviolette and Tortorella. Let's look at the respective coaches and the reason that they are on the hot seat:

Oates: Coming out the gate with 4 straight losses, while only being in the game for 1 of them. Not a good first step, especially with a powerful Caps team.

Tortorella: Losing 3 of the first 4 with the most powerful team in the league. This is their team from last year plus Nash, they shouldn't be losing.

Laviolette: Losing 3 of the first 4 while not scoring with one of the most potent offenses in the league. 5 goals in 4 games doesn't cut it.

Bylsma: Losing to 2 lesser teams in their first 4 games after blowing a lead. His complete refusal to alter his game plan and the general lack of maturity from the Pens really makes me miss Therrien.

[Halladay]

Torts and Bylsma are going nowhere, two of the better coaches in the league. Laviolette is a good one too IMO, not his fault that his goaltending has been awful along with HOF dman likely retiring. The first one is likely Oates, from what I've heard, haven't seen, he looks lost.

[kevin13697]

Too early to tell, we are only 3-4 games into the season.
Oates will be the first fired if he doesn't turn his team around.

[ShaunRiching9]

Why the hell do you miss Therrien? Bylsma is not going anywhere he is one of the best coaches in the league and won the Jack Adams two years ago. He is not going anywhere just because his team lost two games.

[penguins2946]

Why the hell do you miss Therrien? Bylsma is not going anywhere he is one of the best coaches in the league and won the Jack Adams two years ago. He is not going anywhere just because his team lost two games.

Only 1 problem of many I have with him is the fact that he can't get the best out of one of the most skilled teams in the league. The Pens should not be losing in the first round every year. That cup team has Therrien's fingerprints all over it.

I've always said that when a coach gets replaced, an emotional high, in a way, takes over. The Pens pretty much played Therrien's system while actually playing well. As soon as we won the cup, Bylsma got to fully implement his system, and we have 1 playoff series win since.

When I look at Danny B, all I see is a not angry Boudreau. Great in the season, but can't get it done in the playoffs with some elite talent on your roster. Boudreau got fired. Maybe Bylsma needs that too.

[RedWings13]

Wanting your coach gone after four games is a little ridiculous. Bylsma is a much better coach than Therrien.

[penguins2946]

I don't want Byslma gone because of 2 of 4 bad games, I want him gone because he has done NOTHING other than winning the Jack Adams since he won the cup, which was essentially Therrien's system changed a little. Bylsma doesn't have control of the team. The Pens are undisciplined and they under-perform. That goes completely at the coach.

Look at the playoffs last year. The Pens, IMO, had the best roster in the league on paper. They had the top-2 centers in the league, a future Selke winner, a 40 goal scorer, a future Norris winner, 2 of the top shutdown D in the league and a franchise goalie all healthy. What happened? They got out-coached and they played undisciplined. It's that simple.

It isn't a coincidence that Martin and Michalek started playing terrible as soon as they came to Pittsburgh. It's not like they caught the suck virus as soon as they got here. Bylsma plays a terrible system for his team defensively. He ruined Michalek and Martin. It's that simple. I watched Z a couple days ago, he isn't the same D that was in Phoenix 2 years ago. The Pens system ruined him. It's done the same to Martin. Look at how bad Letang is defensively for further proof.

Bylsma has a tendency to play favorites instead of the best players for that night as well. How many times is Adams scratched? Almost never. Freaking Vitale was scratched for him. It's pathetic. Jeffery is 10x the player that Adams is, but since Bylsma sees himself in Adams, he refuses to scratch him. Not to mention how little accountability he holds veterans to. Go watch the Pens games from this season and watch how many times specifically Kunitz and Cooke screw up. It's almost common at this point, but for some reason, Bylsma refuses to bench them for it. On the other side of the coin, whenever Tangradi makes 1 turnover, he's demoted to the 4th line. Bylsma doesn't hold veterans accountable while making the rookies scapegoats.

Bylsma also refuses to make in-game adjustments to fit the situation. Look at last night. Once the Jets got the lead, they started collapsing towards the net in order to protect it. What did the Pens do? The same damn thing they always do, go for stretch passes and mess them up. Bylsma doesn't change his game plan, and whenver they lose, it's always the same BS "we didn't get to our game" excuse. If the team adjusts to counter your play, why would you keep trying to do it? It doesn't make sense.

Bylsma can't keep a line together to save his life. It's a miracle that Neal and Malkin are still together at this point. Bylsma said he doesn't believe in chemistry, which is total crap. Every game, not a single line stays together. One shift, Glass is along Malkin, then the next, Kennedy, then the next, Cooke. It makes literally 0 sense to keep jumbling lines. If the team is struggling, then yes, do it. But, most of the time, the team isn't, so why does he keep changing up lines?

Bylsma also forces his players to play on a position that they aren't comfortable with all the time. Cooke was playing his off-wing last night, and had a giveaway that nearly led to a 2 on 1 goal. Freaking Jeffery was over a PPG player as a center in Germany, but he is forced to play on a 4th line LW whenever he dresses. He is the offensive 3C that teams love, yet the Pens refuse to let him play there. TK was a natural center whenever he was drafted, then he was moved to the RW. Pens could have gotten a better return for Staal by just letting Cooke-Jeffery-Kennedy be the 3rd line. They could have gotten something they actually needed, like a top-6 winger or a shutdown D *cough* Kulimen and Schenn for Staal *cough*. That also goes back to Shero though. Instead of having Bylsma adjust his system for the players he had, Shero brought in players that would work well in his system, which isn't the right thing to do.

That isn't even mentioning the poor handling of rookie players. Whether it is forcing Tangradi to be a 4th line grinder or putting Despres on the top pair, he has shown time and time again that he isn't capable of putting rookies in their correct places. It isn't too hard to figure out that Tangradi would excel as a 3rd line energy player and that Despres would be best to play in the AHL for another year. However, for some reason, Bylsma insists on putting Despres on the top pair, and he expects him to do well. That is even worse for him, because Letang is a defensive liability. Tangradi was forced in along 2 of the top offensive players in the league. Then, whenever he makes a mistake because that's where he shouldn't be, he gets demoted to the 4th line along a god-awful Adams. And the worse part is that he looks more comfortable on the 4th line. Maybe he isn't the next Kevin Stevens, and maybe he is the next Matt Cooke w/o the cheap shots.

[fingerbang]

I don't want Byslma gone because of 2 of 4 bad games, I want him gone because he has done NOTHING other than winning the Jack Adams since he won the cup, which was essentially Therrien's system changed a little. Bylsma doesn't have control of the team. The Pens are undisciplined and they under-perform. That goes completely at the coach.

Look at the playoffs last year. The Pens, IMO, had the best roster in the league on paper. They had the top-2 centers in the league, a future Selke winner, a 40 goal scorer, a future Norris winner, 2 of the top shutdown D in the league and a franchise goalie all healthy. What happened? They got out-coached and they played undisciplined. It's that simple.

It isn't a coincidence that Martin and Michalek started playing terrible as soon as they came to Pittsburgh. It's not like they caught the suck virus as soon as they got here. Bylsma plays a terrible system for his team defensively. He ruined Michalek and Martin. It's that simple. I watched Z a couple days ago, he isn't the same D that was in Phoenix 2 years ago. The Pens system ruined him. It's done the same to Martin. Look at how bad Letang is defensively for further proof.

Bylsma has a tendency to play favorites instead of the best players for that night as well. How many times is Adams scratched? Almost never. Freaking Vitale was scratched for him. It's pathetic. Jeffery is 10x the player that Adams is, but since Bylsma sees himself in Adams, he refuses to scratch him. Not to mention how little accountability he holds veterans to. Go watch the Pens games from this season and watch how many times specifically Kunitz and Cooke screw up. It's almost common at this point, but for some reason, Bylsma refuses to bench them for it. On the other side of the coin, whenever Tangradi makes 1 turnover, he's demoted to the 4th line. Bylsma doesn't hold veterans accountable while making the rookies scapegoats.

Bylsma also refuses to make in-game adjustments to fit the situation. Look at last night. Once the Jets got the lead, they started collapsing towards the net in order to protect it. What did the Pens do? The same damn thing they always do, go for stretch passes and mess them up. Bylsma doesn't change his game plan, and whenver they lose, it's always the same BS "we didn't get to our game" excuse. If the team adjusts to counter your play, why would you keep trying to do it? It doesn't make sense.

I could go on, but people probably won't read this already because people will already think it is too long.

Your franchise goalie, future Norris winner, and 2 shutdown d men did an absolutely awful job keeping pucks out of the net.

Bylsma is one of the best coaches in hockey.

[RedWings13]

Fleury was just awful in that series, if he is even average, the Pens probably would've won. The defense was also awful. They're finally healthy and they're just underperforming a bit, doesn't meant the coach is awful. If that were the case Babcock should've been gone a while ago.

[penguins2946]

Your franchise goalie, future Norris winner, and 2 shutdown d men did an absolutely awful job keeping pucks out of the net.

Bylsma is one of the best coaches in hockey.

Yeah, but that is also on the coach. He should have noticed that his system did nothing to help the team defensively and just made their weaknesses glare even worse. He should have changed the system so that it would be more defensively-friendly, not keep it the same and get burnt. I've always said it is easier to make Sid and Geno play defense than it is to make Martin and Michalek play offense. I'm not saying that the players are innocent, but it is the coaches job to put players in the situations that the team gets the most out of them in.

It is the coaches fault that the Pens played terrible defensively. It doesn't matter if you have an all-star team defensively, if you have the wrong system, that doesn't mean squat. And saying they are under-performing a bit is an understatement, they should be winning at least 1 playoff series a year, not losing in the first round.

[jrice9]

2 of the top shutdown D in the league

Who are these guys?

I'd love to meet them?

[SLY WILLIAMS]

I think Laviolette is a good coach. I think the Flyers would make a mistake if they let him go.

[penguins2946]

Who are these guys?

I'd love to meet them?

Martin and Michalek. You know, the ones I explained 2 sentences later.

[Celtic AL]

Tortorella is safe. he had 1 week to get this team ready & what can you do in one week when you got new pieces to work with? so i think hes 90% safe.

To me Laviolette is more on the hot seat then Oates.

[Bullseyed]

Kinda surprised not to see Ruff on this list. Got to think he won't be around if the Sabres tank this year.

Also saw a lot of over-valuing the Pens in the thread. Fleury is only the franchise goalie because no one else is available. He'd be a backup on most teams.