After coaching the Penguins to five straight playoff appearances, three 100-point seasons, and a Stanley Cup in 2009, Dan Bylsma was picked Thursday to lead Team USA to Sochi gold.
Some think it was more about Bylsma’s “charisma and temperament” than his international experience, mostly because he has none, but also because new Canucks’s coach John Tortorella was thought of as the favorite for the gig before, as the USA Today suggests, he “damaged his public image” with hostile news conferences while with the Rangers.
So Bylsma it is. The Penguins will also send GM Ray Shero to serve as an associate to new USA GM David Poile, but that’s likely where the list ends for Pittsburgh since most of their best players, including former NHL MVPs Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, are of the international variety.
The move to have Bylsma coach Team USA is obviously a strong suggestion that a deal is soon to be signed between the NHL and the Olympics, especially after the IOC agreed to cover the costs necessary to insure the roughly $3 billion in contracts of the pros competing in Sochi.
