Jason Botterill interim GM of the Pens
It looks like the Pens are fed up with early playoff exits and fired their GM today. I would assume Bylsma is next. In any case, they have named alum Jason Botterill as interim GM:
http://www.pensburgh.com/2014/5/16/5723786/penguins-news-jason-botteril…
According to his Wiki page, he also went back and got an MBA from Ross in 2007.
Huh. I read this morning on TSN that they'd fired Byslma as well and thought that was a really dumb idea. It's too bad they retained him, he's a really good coach. If they do eventually fire Byslma, I'd think of Vancouver firing Vigneault and hiring Tortorella. We see how that worked out for them, out of the playoffs with the Rangers knocking off the Pens...
He's a victim of his own success after winning the cup in his first season. Since then, they have either blown series leads in the first two rounds or been embarassed in the Eastern Finals. With that roster, he's had essentially 5 disappointing years in the playoffs. Just simply not good enough.
THat cup should be credited to Michel, (Mike at the time), Therien. Bylsma didn't impose his "player friendly" system until the following year. In the 5 seasons following that cup, the Pens have been, argualbly, the most talented team in the league but have had some fantastic playoff flameouts. I think Bylsma is a good coach but he's become stale in Pittsburgh.
Had many, many econ classes with Botts, Morrison, and Luhning back in '94-97 and became friendly with them. All 3 were very down to earth and actually attended all classes almost 100% of the time. They are all extremely intelligent but, Botts and Luhning especially excelled. If I recall, aside from JB getting his MBA at Ross, Luhning received his from Yale after his NHL career fizzled out. He's now running a venture cap firm in SF. JB was mentioned in a recent Hockey News article as number 2 on a list of the NHL's top 40 execs under 40. No doubt he will be running a team in the near future. Just hope it's not that puke of an organization in Pittsburgh.
they lived in my hall. Great people all around, including Blake Sloan.
You can blame Byslma for the Pens' fans not getting the players up for the games like the Bruins' fans do. I mean, really up.
The greatest sign possibly ever is actually a fake. This is the actual sign:
But what a bummer. The fake is much better.
Always assumed this was shopped but never saw confirmation or the original.
Mario is leaving Bylsma's fate up to the next GM they hire.
99% he is gone, with all the reports of Disco Dan losing the locker room last season. He was never a guy that would stand up to players, especially stars.
The blueline was comically bad in the second half of that series; terrible pinches, bonehead turnovers. On the offensive side the Pens ran the same breakout with zero results because the Rangers funnelled them down the boards they never changed.
Everytime the camera went to Bylsma he was on the bench with his arms crossed, no emotion.
What Pittsburgh needs to do is find the guy who drafted Staal over Teows, hire him again, then fire him 1,000,000 times. But as a Blackhawks fan, thanks that guy!
I'm sitting here, laughing my ass off at all the Penguins media and fans, thinking that they're just gonna swoop into Detroit and haul Babcock back to Pittsburgh as if he's been dying to coach the Penguins his entire life.
When he's already lined up to be the next coach at Michigan!
Got four years and a degree, played professionally for a long time, went back to get his MBA, and now he's setup for a long career as a front office guy. Nicely done, I hope he does well there while still somehow having the Pens not win a single game
I played pickup street roller hockey against Jason Botterill and Warren Luhning at the parking lot near Elbel Field in the summer of 1993. Needless to say I got schooled on 360 spin moves more than once. Good times...