The Pittsburgh Penguins coach addresses the team, the helmet rule and the possible departure of some players. A former Stanley Cup winning coach with the Pittsburgh Penguins is back behind the bench with a brand new team. Dan Byslma won the Cup with the Penguins in 2009 and has recently been hired as the first ever head coach of the Coachella Valley Firebirds. The Firebirds are the first official AHL affiliate for the Seattle Kraken, and they drop the puck on their first season for the 2022-23 season. This will not be Bylsma’s first tenure as an AHL head coach; starting in 2004 he coached multiple farm teams before landing with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2008. When the NHL Penguins fired Michel Therrien in the middle of the 2008-09 season, Bylsma was brought up from the AHL and went on to be one of the most successful Pens coaches of all time. With the Penguins, Bylsma reached a record of 252-117-32, won a Jack Adam’s Award in 2011, and coached Team USA in the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. Bylsma’s 252 wins with the Pens was the most in franchise history until Mike Sullivan surpassed the mark this past season. Since being fired by the Penguins in 2014, Bylsma was the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres for a pair of seasons where he added 68 more wins to his career record. In 2021, Bylsma was hired by the Kraken to be an assistant coach with the shared AHL affiliate Charlotte Checkers. Taking over as the head coach of the Firebirds could be Bylsma’s first step in again becoming the bench boss of an NHL team.
