Dan Bylsma

Dan Bylsma
Bylsma waving a Penguins flag during the 2009 Stanley Cup victory parade.
Born	September 19, 1970 (1970-09-19) (age 41) Grand Haven, MI, USA
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight	215 lb (98 kg; 15 st 5 lb)
Position	RW
Shot	Left
Played for	Los Angeles Kings Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
NHL Draft	#109 overall, 1989 Winnipeg Jets
Playing career	1992–2004

Dan Bylsma (pronounced 'BILES-mah') (born September 19, 1970) is the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL) as of February 15, 2009, replacing Michel Therrien. Prior to coaching the Penguins, he played as a forward in the NHL and coached in the American Hockey League (AHL). He was drafted in the sixth round (109th Overall) of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft, by the Winnipeg Jets. On June 12, 2009, four months after becoming head coach in Pittsburgh, Dan Bylsma coached the Penguins to their third Stanley Cup Championship in 7 games over the Detroit Red Wings.

Early life

During his high-school days, Bylsma was a standout in many sports, including golf, baseball, and ice hockey. Bylsma graduated from Western Michigan Christian High School where he won the Class D golf individual championship as a freshman. He also played baseball and was the starting left fielder as a freshman on Christian's 1985 State championship team. In his senior year, he was a member of the all-state all-class "Dream Team" (the best player at each position in the state – all classes), and won many regional baseball honors.

Bylsma played amateur hockey in Muskegon Junior Hockey, Norton Shores Recreational Leagues, and Grand Rapids GRAHA before playing Junior "B" hockey in Canada for the St. Marys Lincolns of the Ontario Hockey Association. Bylsma went on to play college hockey at Bowling Green State University from 1988–1992 and was drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in his freshman year. He was twice selected to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association All Academic Team and once earned Honorable Mention. He was a Bowling Green Scholar Athlete all four years and won the Jack Gregory Award for the highest grade point average on the team in his Sophomore season and the Howard Brown Coaches' Award for excellence in his Senior year. Bylsma is one of few players in the CCHA to have scored a short handed goal while his team was two men short.

				Regular season
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1988–89	Bowling Green	CCHA		37	4	7	11	16
1989–90	Bowling Green	CCHA		44	13	17	30	32
1990–91	Bowling Green	CCHA		40	9	12	21	48
1991–92	Bowling Green	CCHA		34	11	14	25	24
CCHA totals				155	37	50	87	120

Professional playing career

Despite being drafted by the Winnipeg Jets, Bylsma never played a game for them, and was signed by the Los Angeles Kings in the summer of 1994. During the 1994–95 labor stoppage, Bylsma earned the nickname "Disco Dan". The nickname was adopted by teammates while playing for a minor league team in Phoenix. Veteran goaltender Byron Dafoe already went by Bylsma's former moniker of "Bysie" so the name "Disco Dan" was given due to Bylsma's penchant for dancing in the clubhouse.^[1]

He played parts of five seasons for the Kings, acting as a defensive forward. In his first season, when he played only four games for the Kings, he was captain of their International Hockey League (IHL) affiliate, the Phoenix Roadrunners. He also played for the Long Beach Ice Dogs, who were the Kings' IHL affiliate after the Roadrunners folded in 1997. Bylsma played 95 American Hockey League (AHL) games with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, the Lowell Lock Monsters, the Springfield Falcons, the Albany River Rats, the Moncton Hawks and the Rochester Americans, and reached the Calder Cup Finals in 1994.

Signed as a free agent by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the summer of 2000, Bylsma was a steadying influence on a rebuilding Anaheim team, and was made an alternate captain. In his second season, he set a career high in points (17).

Bylsma struggled his entire career to stay in the NHL, mostly due to a lack of natural offensive ability (his primary role in the NHL had always been penalty killing). Injuries took a toll in later years, and before being put on waivers in January 2004, Bylsma missed 31 games due to knee surgery. He retired from playing following the 2003–04 season.

Coaching career

Bylsma served as an assistant coach with the AHL's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks (2004–05) and the NHL's New York Islanders (2005–06). During the 2008–09 season, Bylsma coached the Penguins' AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

On February 15, 2009, with the Pittsburgh Penguins struggling to make the playoffs, the Penguins organization announced that it had relieved head coach Michel Therrien of his duties and had promoted Bylsma to serve as interim head coach of the team.^[2] At 38, he was the youngest head coach in the NHL at the time. Through his first 25 games as Penguins' coach, his 18–3–4 record amounted to 40 points—the second most of any coach in NHL history through their first 25 games.^[3] On April 28, Penguins General Manager Ray Shero announced that Bylsma had been named permanent head coach of the team.^[4] On June 12, 2009 Bylsma led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup championship, becoming the 14th coach and the second mid-season replacement to win the Stanley Cup in their first season. Byslma was awarded the Jack Adams Award as the league's most outstanding coach for the 2010–2011 season due to the Penguins still being a contender for the Stanley Cup without his two star players Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

Awards and records

• 2011– Jack Adams Award

Coaching record

Note: The coach's overall points percentage (½ Points earned ÷ Games coached) is shown in the "Total" row of the Pts column.

Team	Year	Regular season						Post season
		G	W	L	OTL	Pts	Finish	G	W	L	Result
PIT	2008–09	25	18	3	4	(99)†	2nd in Atlantic	24	16	8	Stanley Cup Champions
PIT	2009–10	82	47	28	7	101	2nd in Atlantic	13	7	6	Lost in conference semi-finals
PIT	2010–11	82	49	25	8	106	2nd in Atlantic	7	3	4	Lost in conference quarter-finals
PIT	2011–12	11	7	2	2	16	(in progress)	-	-	-	???
Total		200	121	58	21	.676

• † Bylsma joined the Penguins 57 games into their season, when the team had 59 points; Bylsma added 40 points to that.

References

1. ^ Anderson, Shelly (2009-04-14). "NHL Playoffs: Bylsma's success reads like fish story". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09104/962620-61.stm. Retrieved 2009-06-19. 
2. ^ "Dan Bylsma Named Interim Head Coach of Pittsburgh Penguins". Pittsburgh Penguins. 2009-02-15. http://penguins.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=NewsPage&articleid=409456. Retrieved 2009-06-19. 
3. ^ Starkey, Joe (April 12, 2009). "The book on Penguins coach Bylsma". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_620304.html. 
4. ^ Molinari, Dave (April 28, 2009). "Bylsma named Penguins head coach; he's no longer 'interim'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09118/966093-100.stm. 

External links

• Dan Bylsma's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database

Preceded by Todd Richards	Head Coach of the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 2008–2009	Succeeded by Todd Reirden
Preceded by Michel Therrien	Head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins 2009–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Dave Tippett	Jack Adams Award Winners 2011	Succeeded by Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Bylsma, Dan
Alternative names
Short description	American ice hockey player
Date of birth	September 19, 1970
Place of birth	Grand Haven, Michigan, USA
Date of death
Place of death