To hear Jerry York tell it, newest Kraken head coach Dan Bylsma is “probably better prepared now than ever” to succeed in his latest and most improbable NHL stint.
York, 78, is the all-time winning coach in NCAA Division I men’s hockey, compiling 1,123 victories before retiring in 2021. Dozens came in the 1980s coaching Bylsma and his older brother, Scott, on powerhouse Bowling Green State University squads, and York has kept in touch over the years.
They met up at York’s home just outside the Pittsburgh area right after the Penguins fired Bylsma in 2014, then spoke again several times after the Buffalo Sabres dismissed him in 2017. York didn’t sense the same coaching fire within Bylsma after the Buffalo job ended.
But now, several years and much self-discovery by Bylsma later, York was so convinced he’d succeed with the Kraken he immediately texted general manager Ron Francis last month lobbying that his former player be given the position after Dave Hakstol’s firing.
“I told him I thought he’d be outstanding and better prepared this time,” York said.
It helps that York already knew Francis from way back when he tried recruiting him as a 15-year-old out of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, to play for Clarkson University in the 1970s. The teenage Francis instead opted to play major junior hockey in his hometown ahead of a Hall of Fame NHL career.
“I think he did well enough for himself,” York said, laughing.
But York was more successful landing Bylsma, a three-sport high school star in golf, hockey and baseball out of Grand Haven, Michigan. Though Bylsma scored only 37 goals in four collegiate seasons, York remembered him being “a super nice guy” who did things without the puck that got him noticed.
Bylsma would use his 6-foot-2, 215-pound body to win puck battles, block shots and sacrifice himself in multiple ways for the team. It made him a popular teammate and exceptional penalty killer, a skill that helped carry Bylsma through a journeyman NHL career.
It also gave Bylsma the ability, York said, to relate to players beyond just the stars.
“Not many people get the chance to coach a guy like Sidney Crosby and learn from that experience,” York said of Bylsma’s five seasons as Pittsburgh’s head coach. “But some of those players were also up and down from the minor leagues. And he was one of those players that was up from the minor leagues to the NHL and then back down.
“And I think he’s got a great feel for the NHL players right now.”
That feel, admittedly for Bylsma, has taken time.
As good as things were in Pittsburgh, winning a Cup shortly after taking over for the fired Michel Therrien in February 2009 and making five straight playoffs, his subsequent two-season Buffalo stint wasn’t nearly as rewarding. In his introductory news conference in Seattle on Tuesday, Bylsma mentioned his evolution as a coach and how young players in today’s game are different than when he played or even began coaching.
“I think a long time ago, as coaches and as players we got told what to do and we received it any way we knew how to receive it,” Bylsma said. “And I think today, my coaching style is about relationships. It’s about getting on the same page with the player and the individual. And they’re a part of it. They want to be a part of it. They want to have the discussion.”
By the time he was fired in Buffalo, it appeared Bylsma wasn’t using the same book — let alone on the same page — as some players. A report had surfaced that star young forward Jack Eichel was refusing to sign a contract extension unless a coaching change happened. Eichel later downplayed the report, but it was clear relations between Bylsma and players weren’t the best.
There were reports of players going off-script and ignoring Bylsma’s game plan, to where goalie Robin Lehner rather pointedly called them out, saying: “It’s time to realize that we’re a grinding hockey team that’s got to follow the structure and start listening to our coach and start respecting this team and respecting our coach.”
Bylsma admitted the Sabres experience drained him of his “desire” to continue behind any NHL bench. And that it’s taken this many years, the past two as a head coach again with the Kraken’s Coachella Valley Firebirds AHL affiliate, to “discover the joy of coaching again and change a little bit.”
But it didn’t happen overnight. Bylsma took a year off, then spent three years as a Detroit Red Wings assistant. Only then did he leave, telling Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman in the spring of 2021 he’d always been a head coach in his heart and wanted to be one again.
And Francis was offering Bylsma a possibility of that with the expansion franchise’s upcoming AHL team. As long as Bylsma first agreed to an assistant’s role on a Charlotte Checkers AHL team being temporarily shared as an affiliate with the Florida Panthers while the Kraken waited a year to build an arena for their incoming Coachella Valley franchise.
Three long years later, Bylsma has recaptured his love for coaching. He led Coachella Valley to within an overtime goal of the Calder Cup title a year ago and now is back playing in the AHL’s Western Conference Final.
His biggest change as a coach? “Probably just the joy of … connecting with the players, coaching the players, developing the players, developing the team,” Bylsma said.
He added: “I think it can be a little bit difficult when you get to the National Hockey League to do that. And this time around, it won’t be.”
York was among the first to text him a congratulatory note.
“He’s texted and we’ve texted back two or three times in the last 18 hours,” Bylsma said. “And so, that ability to establish a relationship and keep a relationship going, coach York is the best at.”
And York plans to keep it going with Bylsma — “thrilled” that his NHL head coaching career will get an improbable third opportunity after a seven-year absence. And the chance to show he can get more out of NHL players than his previous time around.
“He’s got a calling from above to do that,” York said. “And it’s not easy to do, right? To bring stuff out in players? But I think Danny has that capability. And he’s really worked at it.”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
