Therrien fired, replaced by Bylsma - 2-15-09

Should've been Shero......

Well, the time is NOW to get the Pens going, and make a push to the playoffs. If this doesn't send a message to the players, then who knows what will. I personally wish Therrien all the best in whatever position he takes on next. It sure was nice to see him lead them to the Finals and battle Detroit last year. Great man, good father, and good coach. In the business of "what have you done for me lately", it was his time to go. I hope Bylsma get them going and awakes this sleeping giant with so much talent and skill. Win or go home MUCH earlier than last season.

Ha.  Uh-oh.  The flood gates are open....

Great picture over at the Pens website.  I hope he keeps the headset....

Can I be the first person on the Internets to type the letters "HCDB"?

@Brando

I agree the flood gates are open, the question is whose next to go players? Shero? Assistant coaches? Guess its wait and see.

To me this is the Penguins giving in for the season.  I don't see how you give a guy who is in his first season as a minor league coach the head coaching job.  Seems like they are going to give him a good long look at the NHL level and if it does not work he can't be to blame for missing the playoffs and they will look for an experienced coach in the off season.  I think everyone knows its a dead horse; if they honestly believed they had a chance to make the playoffs they would not be bringing in an inexperienced coach.  Unless Shero is just that dumb.  

@TJK33

Shero is probably just that dumb look at all the dumb signings hes made and all the ones hes failed to make over the years.

I second the best wishes to Therrien. He's a good man who got caught up in a perfect storm of bad signings and injuries. I wish him and his family the best.

I wonder who Shero will get on a permanent basis. I wonder why they kept Mike Yeo though.

I wonder what else Shero has up his sleeve. I hope its not another rental player.

I will miss Therrien, but I think this shake up was needed. I'll never forget how he lit a fire under the whole team (especially the defense) when he took over in 2005. I think Therrien lost the fire this year, sadly.

Don't forget that he did build up a winning record for the team since he took over. He was 135-105-32 (if my math was right).

this should have been 6 weeks ago! I am afraid it might be too little too late.

Was just talking about this with some friends today and it seemed like the Pens had been playing just well enough the past month to keep Therrien from getting fired.  That being said, this move had to happen.  The team was not responding to Therrien, and I kept waiting for Therrien to explode on this team  for their play and it never came.

I agree that some trades are in order, but I think that it will be a lot of trading role players.  I did just read a rumor on TSN that the Pens may be interested in bringing Colby Armstrong back.  He had good chemistry with Sid and will only be a RFA this off-season.  I can't see the Pens trading for another rental player who will be a UFA in July and it will be tough to get a Top 6 winger without giving up one of our talented young players,

congratulations sidney. way to captain your club into getting the coach fired. therrien was right. it is up to players. his coaching was good enough to get them to the finals. this year, coaching is not going to make the players want to give a ****. they have to do that themselves. i can count 4 players (not including gonchar as he was not responsible for this trainwreck) that do. as for the rest? that should be painfully obvious to anyone with eyes. they are suppossedly "professionals". act like it. jesus. i guess they really want tavares on crosby's wing next fall.

Good Luck to FHCMT.

Not completely his fault Shero deserves some of the blame with the players he added to our "core" team.  That being said, It just seems like FHCMT lost this team. Its kind of late in the season for this, but hopefully the Pens can rally to make the playoffs.  

I agree that last the performance by Shero in the off-season killed this season for the Pens.  He put all his eggs in the Marian Hossa basket and let Malone, Roberts, Hall, Ruutu, and Laraque go.  That doesn't even include the players we gave up to get Hossa (Christensen, Armstrong, Esposito, & a 1st rounder).  When Hossa bailed to Detroit we ended up with the bottom of the barrel in Satan and Fedetenko.

I'm probably the only one thinking this, but they couldn't have left Bylsma with the WBS Pens, who are surging at the moment?  Yes, I *am* at the point where I feel more interested in and optimistic about the Calder Cup playoffs than the Stanley Cup playoffs, at least regarding this organization.

The firing probably needed to happen, but I feel kind of sad, for some reason.

I hope HCDB installs an agressive PK.  I hope HCDB allows lines to stay intact for longer than one period.  I hope HCDB allows his defensemen to pinch in at the point.  I hope HCDB doesn't allow Ryan Whitney to play the full 2 minutes on the PP.  

I think this is a 25-game audition for Bylsma.  If he does okay, he might be retained.  I'd put my money on Todd Richards being hired as HC in the off-season.

F(uture)HCTR, anyone?

Most of all I will mss the press conference quotes... "Tyler Kennedy has the mono" and "It difficult when you play the Devil." Because of FHCMT I now refer to all teams in the singular form... the Islander, the Ranger, the Bruin, etc. I guess the only teams he got right were the Lightning and the Avalanche.

Good call megawheel, Tavares is a center.

This needed to be done, unfortunately...Best wishes MT.  Good luck Dan, I hope you can instill some sort of work ethic in this group.

And Sid, If you're sick, Don't Play.  Was he even out there yesterday?

Yeo will be gone at the seasons end.  I like the notion of bringing in Todd Richards.  Always liked him in WBS.

I don't think Bylsma will be here any longer than the rest of this season, if he makes it that long, but I am very interested to see what moves he makes right out of the gate.

If you remember back when Therrien replaced Edzo after coaching WBS to that amazing start, he brought a few of his key players along with him to the big club (Max Talbot was one).

I wonder if Bylsma will try to get Shero to give Pesonen or Caputi a longer look. Pesonen is gone after this year, so we might as well see what we have in him. He's put up some great numbers in WBS, so I say call him up, put him on the top 2 lines and see what happens. If he flames out, no loss. Same with Caputi, at least give him an extended look on Crosby/Malkin's wing.

Caputi-Crosby-Pesonen

Sykora-Malkin-Kennedy

Talbot-Staal-Fedotenko/Satan

Goddard-Thomas-Feds/Satan

Give it a try and see what happens.

Bad call on Shero's part. Horrible call. When u make the Finals the year b4, you shouldn't fire your coach. He's almost as bad as Patrick.

a Habay: no kidding. so is malkin. and staal. wonder if either of them ever were forced to play wing?  maybe even on sidney's line? nah. that couldn't happen.

they want tavares on sid's wing so that the rest of the team can lay back and not do anything because they have sid, geno,  fleury, AND tavares. why should they have to work hard when those players will do enough for the rest of the team to coast through the season without breaking a sweat? you know. kind of like what they are doing now, minus that center that is the consensus #1 in the draft.

What are line combo's?  Is that a new type of Combo snack?

Not Therrien's fault.  Few of the players have the requisite desire.  I know the coach gets the blame for that, but its not right.

One thing I did question though was why FHCMT did not call a TO after the Leafs tied it 2-2 early in the 3rd.  It was clear that whatever was said at intermission did not register.  The 2nd period the Pens were outshot 14-5, and that carried over in full force to the 3rd.

The announcers were calling for a TO at 3-2, or 19 seconds later--when Blake put in his 2nd in as many ticks.  That was too late, imo, but would have been SOMETHING.  Therrien did NOTHING.

Not saying that calling a TO would have changed the game.  But it MIGHT have.  If I'm the GM, I want my HC to do something, dagnabbit.

Still...agree w/ the folks on this thread who would rather hold Shero accountable.  He's done a few things right, but he's also managed to take a team which was consensus "THE team" to GM and run it into the ground.

Let's just hope he doesn't trade away what remains of the Pens depth and prospects for another rental.

This is a f**king joke! Therrien lead the team to the Finals, but it was coming because the team is slipping. Bylsma will do great and lead them back to the playoffs. (maybe) Some people will get called up like Minard, Caputi, and Pesonen so they get used to the NHL.

R.I.P. THERRIEN

2006-2009

Maybe we become real bad and draft Tavares and get good again.

Thanks, Seth.  Well that makes more sense.

This from HockeyBuzz.com (just posted w/in the hour):

"I am told to expect many more changes in Penguins land.

       #1 There will be a winger for Crosby. The top three that I am hearing are Cole, Gaborik, Prucha and Recchi...likely in that order.

Cole and Gaborik are UFA.

Another rental?

Prucha or Recchi...?

Say it aint so.

Agreed sev, I don't know why he didn't call one, really baffling...Maybe he felt he was bulletproof and no matter what he did, he'd make it through the season.

We still don't need anymore C's...Nuff said.

cause recchi worked out so well his last time here. in the words of charlie brown: "good grief. i can't stand it. i just can't stand it."

I don't care if it's a trade deadline deal, an off-season trade or a free agent signing, Ray Shero has to bring in players who aren't afraid to get their noses dirty.  You can count on one hand the number of current Penguins who fit that mold ... Cooke, Orpik, Crosby, Malkin, Talbot, and Kennedy.  (6 fingers on that hand, sorry).  I'm not talking about goons.  I want guys who can play but who aren't allergic to contact.  

They lost last night because they were intimidated by what Luke Schenn did to them the last time they played in Toronto (when he crushed Malkin along the boards which led to Kennedy coming off the bench to fight him).  Last night, they did everything possible to avoid going into the corners in the offensive zone.  As a result, they failed to apply any pressure on Toronto's d-men. That made it easy for Toronto to turn the tide on them once they got their legs going.  It's been that way all season.  I can't really blame Michel Therrien for that.  He can only play the guys on his roster.

Thanks, Seth.  That is a relief.  

Just so long as Shero doesn't trade away multiple players and picks for Bathgate...

Shero should take most of the blame for a horrible offseason. He did assemble a good 4th line and some decent spare parts the last 2 years..But then Therrien did a good job in the past too. Shero has been awful this year. If he messes up next year too, he should be gone.

Everyone who thought HCMT should have been fired is WRONG. If this collection of players quit on him than shame on them. Maybe some guys in the room don't have what it takes to win a Stanley Cup.

Therrien was the least of the problems. The issues began with Shero allowing Hossa - and his agent - to dictate contract negotions and not even approaching Ryan Malone about a new deal last summer. As a result we're stuck with Miro Satan, who is flat out terrible!

Maybe Therrien bristled some guys and didn't kiss ass like some of the players (Hossa) and management wanted, but I don't think this year's performance is all on him. To me, this lackluster season reflects more on the guys that are wearing the sweaters than the guys behind the bench in suits.

I feel bad for Therrien. This team is totally awful, except for the big two. Looking the roster that they have put out recently, even with most of the wounded returning, there is no toughness and no skill (except on D). Therrien wasn't Shero's guy and I'm sure that played a role...he was on a short string.

Still, Therrien isn't at fault for guys like Kennedy or Dupuis being unable to convert chances. He isn't at fault for having to field Satan and Fedotenko. He can't get Fleury to stop or successfully handle pucks.

At this point in the season, this is a desperation move. The players should feel shame and I think there needs to be a recognition that Shero has a significant amount of blame for this.

Good luck to Mike, wherever he ends up. I just hope that someone recognizes his good work.

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In our house, we affectionately called Michel Therrien "Stinky Fromage" because  of the look he would get on his face after a particularly bad play or penalty or loss (and because of his french accent). As a huge Pens fan and an equally big Stinky Fromage fan, I'm extremely ticked off about his firing. What was it that he did to deserve to have the players stop listening to him - what, having LOST the Staneley Cup last year, they are suddenly too good to listen to their coach?

Or maybe this is a desire to the return the old Country Club Pens coaching days - don't work too hard, let your star players make all the highlight reels, and let your goalie get lit up like a pinball machine night after night.

I'd love to know which one of the players thinks he's too d***ed special to have to be responsible defensively on the ice - isn't that the big beef against Therrien's system? God forbid these multi-millionaire dollar players have to WORK... Although one player is no mystery at all, and we can thank Shero for him: yes, I'm talking to you, SATAN.

And how is it that the same coaching strategies that got the team within two games of winning the Stanley Cup are now not good enough for players and management? Maybe he wanted them to break a sweat.

I've been waiting & waiting & waiting to hear Therrien lambaste some players in the press, to shame them into caring, if that's what it takes, but it's obvious that he's been hog-tied, ordered to tone down his message and his delivery. Once they undercut his authority to call out players when they play like crap, it's a message to the team that the coach has lost his authority and the players are the ones in charge. The inmates are running the asylum now.

Look, I love the Pens and am a long, long, long-time fan, and that won't change, but I'm just disgusted that the players let it get to this point. Except for his thing about changing lines all the time (and his weakness for Yeo), Therrien did nothing to knock with this team - and you can't even say the line-shifting was all that bad because he did that all through April-May-June last year and came within two games of winning the Cup. So who can say that that was such a mistake? The only thing that's changed is the players, and that falls on Shero's shoulders, not Therrien's. But Therrien takes the fall...

Well, fine, the players played to get their coach fired and they succeeded. Now I expect nothing less than to see them in the playoffs. They got what they want so no more excuses. They WIN, from here-on-out - and if they don't, then we'll all know we're back to Country Club days and these guys are just being LAZY.

Oh, I'm just furious about this. But fine, it is what it is now. Farewell, Stinky Fromage, I hope you stay in the NHL as a head coach because you deserve to be one. You deserve better than how you were treated in this instance. As much as I love the Pens, I hope that the team Therrien next coaches comes to Pittsburgh and royally whips their asses with some tight, defensively-responsible playing. Au revoir.

I get a kick out of Shero's statement about still qualifying for the playoffs.  Playoffs?!?!?  You talkin' about playoffs?!?!? Playoffs?!?!?! You kiddin' me???  This basically tells me the Pens are tanking it for the season, realistically people how would this team fare against a team like Boston or Washington in the postseason?  Who knows what kind of system Bylsma is going to implement in his more than likely brief tenure as the Penguins head coach.  I was starting to take bets a couple of weeks ago during the comeback game vs. the Lightning when we were down 3-0 what the final score had to be for Therrien to get fired the next day?  Once they won that game I figured they would see how the remainder of the season would go and then make a coaching change if needed, so nonetheless I was kind of surprised when the ball dropped on Sunday.  Yeo will be out by the end of the season, I wish he would be gone now though, I would have re-assigned him instead of Savard, but no matter come April 10th he's out of here.  For those who have blamed Shero in there posts I couldn't agree more with you, Shero signed a bunch of wash-ups to try to replace Hossa and Malone.  Change has happened and more is imminent, more will be coming in two weeks at the trade deadline, bank on it, whether the Pens are buyers or sellers.  You can also bank this summer will be make or break for Ray Shero, he has to go out and get a big name this offseason, that is if it doesn't happen at trade deadline first.  Best of luck to Michel Therrien, I was able to meet him a couple of years ago and he was really down to earth, unfortunately this is part of the business

This had to be done and I have a question for all of those who stick up form HCMT and claim the Penguins have no talent.

Who do the Capitals have other than Ovechkin, Semin and Backstrom up front?   Can you name any Panther forward other than a couple?  

Hockey is a simple formula of having some superstars and then role players who hustle which is the area Thierrien failed.   I don't think he established roles for most of the players and they certainly did not hustle.   I don't completely absolve the players but a coach must be able to motivate.  

Where was the discipline when a player passed up shot after shot to make one extra pass, did he sit for a period?   We have seen over and over again what Satan can or cannot do, do we have any idea what Pesonen can do?   Who is telling our defensemen that if they do not clear the crease, they do not play?

I do blame Shero for having too many offensive defensemen and too many NHL caliber defensemen and not enough NHL wingers.   He should have made a move earlier in the year.

Therrien doesn't shoulder all of the blame, but you can't fire 24 players.  And when a group of players performs so far below their potential the coach is always suspect.

However it'll take a turnaround worthy of legend for the Pens to save the season now.  I really wonder why this move wasn't made late last year.

@ Purple Moose: Good post.

I ahve been hoping MT would go for 2 years now. I had enough of his line changes and his ridiculous lambasting of players via the press long ago. My theory as a coach is if you have something to say to a player, man up and say it to his face.

Ditto the idiotic banishments to left wing, using the Random Line Generator to make and blow up line combos while the game is going on and clinging to some players (P Dupuis, Boucher) while banishing others to the press box (A Goligoski) who are actually useful. Further, playing guys who show they can score at least in the minors (Pesonen/Minard) and then playing them for 5 minutes per game on a line with Eric Godard is just dumb.

This team grew up and MT did not grow up with them. He wore out his welcome in Montreal and did the same here. I do hope he finds a job back in the AHL soon as I really think he is best suited to coach at that level.

That said, Sid needs to start being captain instead of Malkin - either that or give the C to Malkin. Oh yeah, hopefully the new coach will whack him on the head if he keeps making that behind the back pass he always makes to the opposing D when he comes down the wing or tries the spin a rama for ten millionth time. Newsflash: the entire NHL is expecting these moves.

Staal needs to reconsider the wisdom of moving to wing, although I don't think he quite moves fast enough to handle it. Eaton needs to be traded, Goligoski called up and when Boucher's foot is all better he needs to be sent off to free agent land.

I hate to see anyone lose their job, but I think at $2 million plus left on the contract, MT ain't gonna starve.

Oh, and for everyone moaning about Malone, he has been nearly as useless for the 'Bolts as he had been previous to last season in Pgh.

The guy disappears for 15 - 20 games at a time and is no way worth $31 million. One of the smartest things for Shero to have done was to NOT sign Malone.

Malone's one and only consistent season in the NHL was last season. He got his contract and he is right back to being inconsistent just like he had been.

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