The "Why I hate Danfigginbylsma" thread

[nossagog]

As Popeye would say,  "I've had all I can stands, and I can't stands no more".

 

Today was a perfect example of "What the hell is he thinking!" example.

 

A 0-0 game at the early in the third period in a well played defensive game by both teams.  Both teams blocking shots and doing whatever they can in a team effort.  So okay, its 0-0, you got to squeeze a goal out somewhere to get the win.   So you'd think, heck, after a TV break or an icing call, lets stack up Crosby and Malkin with Neal and put you offensive eggs in one basket for a shift. 

 

That's what I was waiting for.  Instead, DanfrigginBylsma decides, "Heck, let me break up my first line, you know, the one that probably is in the tops of the league in scoring,and  play a few shifts with Adams-Crosby-Glass, Stempniak-Glass-Gibbons, and Kunitz-Sutter-Engellend."

 

Really? Your big DanfrigginBylsma moment is to take the leading scorer in the league and stick him  with the fourth line?  This was not a double shift, this was a purposeful mix of lines that threw off the flow of those lines for about 4 minutes of play.  UnDFBelievable.

 

Is that the reason they lost the game, no. But WTF.  You wait to put your two best players on the same line with a little over one minute left in the game.   Sigh . . . .

Edited March 23, 2014 by nossagog

[EDI-Flyer]

Noss, I feel your pain...

He just doesn't seem capable of reacting to situations in game... Or else he is so blinkered he just doesn't see the need, I'm not sure which. It might be fine during the regular season to a degree but come Playoffs or tournament play you get found out real quick ie during the Boston series last year or this years Olympics.

[nossagog]

Noss, I feel your pain...

He just doesn't seem capable of reacting to situations in game... Or else he is so blinkered he just doesn't see the need, I'm not sure which. It might be fine during the regular season to a degree but come Playoffs or tournament play you get found out real quick ie during the Boston series last year or this years Olympics.@EDI-Flyer

 

@EDI-Flyer He's completely clueless with in game changes.  When he makes them it just makes you shutter. 

 

The above mention line moves aside, here's another one.   The Pens are going to start the third period with a 5 v 3 power play. So DFB decides, hey let's go with 5 forwards for the PP unit.  Not a bad decision on face value.  But what he does is takes off Matt Niskanen a right hand shot playing the left point and inserts in Jussi Jokinen in his place, a left handed shot.  This puts 5 left handed shots on the ice for the Power Play, basically eliminating any chance at a one time shot from the left side of the ice.  Everything on that power play was forced to the right side of the ice for shots basically eliminating the need for the Blues to defend the left side. He made it easier for the Blues to defend, DFBrillaint.

[EDI-Flyer]

Yep, it's not a surprise that the natives are getting restless...

You would have to think that one more early playoff exit would be the straw that breaks the camels back in terms of his job security. On the other hand right now Disco Dan is keeping the heat of Ray Shero, that's the only reason I can think of that he has a job.

I just pray you keep Bylsma, if you had a better coach your team has the potential to be lethal.

My favourite DFB quote of the games last weekend... "We are a grind team"... Unfreakinbelievable that he says that, let alone is serious about it.

Edited March 23, 2014 by EDI-Flyer

[nossagog]

Yep, it's not a surprise that the natives are getting restless...

You would have to think that one more early playoff exit would be the straw that breaks the camels back in terms of his job security. On the other hand right now Disco Dan is keeping the heat of Ray Shero, that's the only reason I can think of that he has a job.

I just pray you keep Bylsma, if you had a better coach your team has the potential to be lethal.

My favourite DFB quote of the games last weekend... "We are a grind team"... Unfreakinbelievable that he says that, let alone is serious about it.

 

Yep, that was my face palm moment of the week.

[Polaris922]

I'm starting to think he's going to have to go for us to be truly successful again.

[flyerrod]

Yep, that was my face palm moment of the week.

 

The proper term for that is a "NASA Salute".....as long as you follow it with the shrugged shoulders and simultaneously roll your eyes back in your head....

[B21]

@nossagog

@Polaris922

 

Great points and I agree with every one of them about Bylsma not being able to make adjustments on the fly.

 

I'm going to drink some of the Kool Aid though on his "We are a grind team..."

 

At the end of the day that "grinding" style is what is needed to win in the playoffs.  The Pens are simply not as offensively gifted as they appear to be on paper. As painful as it is to admit, @flyercanuck is right. Crosby and Malkin make the players around them better offensively.  Specifically, Neal, Kunitz and Dupuis.  Not to take away from those guys but they are 20-25 goals and 40-45 assists players who become 30-40 goals and 50-55 assists players with Crosby and Malkin.  A team like the Bruins - who play a sound, defense first system - is almost always going to impose it's style on a team like the Penguins when it comes to playoff hockey.  That's exactly what happened in the ECF last year.  Figure out a way to neutralize either or both and it's literally a domino effect on the rest of the team.  They aren't getting past the Bruins in the playoffs unless they figure out how to beat the Bruins at their own game...which I think they are more than capable of doing. If.....

 

I think the Pens can play that "grinding" style and play it well.  Neal and Kunitz are prototypical power forwards.  Both can hit and play physical.  Even Crosby and Malkin are not afraid of contact and both are skilled enough and have enough hockey smarts where they can adapt to a more defese-first style.  Malkin was an absolute menace in the offensive and defensive zone in that SC win agains the Wings. That's what they need.

 

Yesterday's game against St. Louis was a perfect example of how that can work for the Pens.  I know - they lost.  On a fluke goal.  And they were 0-5 on the PP.  Convert on the 5 on 3 and/or any other PP chance and it's a different game.  0-5 of the PP in the playoffs is a death knell for any team.

 

Which brings me to my other point.....protecting leads.  In short, the Pens are not good at it...at all.  Their style does not lend itself to protecting leads.  If you want to be successful in the post-season you need to be able to protect that 2-1 or 1-0 lead you have in the 3rd period.  How many leads have the Pens blown in the regular season to inferior teams? Way way WAY too many.  They have been able to overcome that on skill alone (plus the occasional shootout).  That doesn't happen in the playoffs and certainly doesn't happen against the Bruins in the playoffs.

 

I'm all for what they (and Pepto Bylsma) are trying to do.  They have to do it.  It's why they brought in Jacques Martin as an assistant.  It's why they tried so hard to land Kesler to replace Sutter (nice player but not nearly as physical as a 3rd line center needs to be). 

 

I hope they take the next 10-12 games (whatever is left) and do nothing but work on playing smarter playoff hockey. 

 

And of course - hoping that Pepto Bylsma can work on his mid-game adjustments.

[Polaris922]

@B21

At the game yesterday I got that exact feeling. They were trying to play playoff hockey against the Blues. They squandered a LOT of opportunities again but Elliot played great goal as well. It had a playoff feel to it at the game. They were playing that defense first style and it showed. Right up to Malkin's ridiculously stupid penalty!

[B21]

@B21

At the game yesterday I got that exact feeling. They were trying to play playoff hockey against the Blues. They squandered a LOT of opportunities again but Elliot played great goal as well. It had a playoff feel to it at the game. They were playing that defense first style and it showed. Right up to Malkin's ridiculously stupid penalty!

 

Textbook playoff hockey.  You have to capitalize on your opportunities...PP, 5 on 3, etc.  Somethimes you run into a netminder who stands on his head in which case you aren't winning no matter what.  But they way to beat that is getting pucks on net and getting that "bounce" like the Blues did yesterday.

 

Not pretty but it can work.

[nossagog]

@B21

I understand what you're saying, but there are so many things that he does that don't make sense.  These are the things that make me scratch my head.

 

Have at these and explain them for the St. Louis game.

 

1) If you are playing what you think is a good playoff game and the score is tied in the third period, why do you split up your first line onto three different lines to mix things up.  If this is how you WANT to play, then keep playing it because its working.  Instead he put Crosby, Kunitz and Stempniak on different lines for a period of time in the third. What was the point? Kunitz and Stemp aren't going to make another line better tossing them there.  It effectively watered down the offensive potential of the Pens for about 5 minutes at a critical juncture of the game.

2) He states that due to the physical nature of what was expected in the game, you are going dress 7 defensemen so that you can have Deryk Engellend in the game for additional size. You then also dress your smallest player in Gibbons at 5'8" 170 lbs and scratch Pyatt at 6'4" and 230 lbs. Other than one sprint up ice to negate an icing, Gibbons was like a boy amoungst men. If you were worried about the physical nature of the game, why Gibbons?

3) He starts the third period on a 5v3 and you take out your only right handed shot on the first unit so that you have 5 left handed shots.  Jokinen didn't even LOOK like he was going to shoot the puck from the left point.

4) The goose egg on the PP was mostly due to playing on the perimeter of the offense zone, it was almost entirely passing to get the puck for a Malkin one timer from the right dot. They covered that, so all we did is try to get point shots off.  How many of those did the Blues block.   

 

He's just killing me.  The Blues did their homework and knew what to expect,  Coach Dan could not adjust. 

Edited March 24, 2014 by nossagog

[B21]

@B21

I understand what you're saying, but there are so many things that he does that don't make sense.  These are the things that make me scratch my head.

 

Have at these and explain them for the St. Louis game.

 

1) If you are playing what you think is a good playoff game and the score is tied in the third period, why do you split up your first line onto three different lines to mix things up.  If this is how you WANT to play, then keep playing it because its working.  Instead he put Crosby, Kunitz and Stempniak on different lines for a period of time in the third. What was the point? Kunitz and Stemp aren't going to make another line better tossing them there.  It effectively watered down the offensive potential of the Pens for about 5 minutes at a critical juncture of the game.

2) He states that due to the physical nature of what was expected in the game, you are going dress 7 defensemen so that you can have Deryk Engellend in the game for additional size. You then also dress your smallest player in Gibbons at 5'8" 170 lbs and scratch Pyatt at 6'4" and 230 lbs. Other than one sprint up ice to negate an icing, Gibbons was like a boy amoungst men. If you were worried about the physical nature of the game, why Gibbons?

3) He starts the third period on a 5v3 and you take out your only right handed shot on the first unit so that you have 5 left handed shots.  Jokinen didn't even LOOK like he was going to shoot the puck from the left point.

4) The goose egg on the PP was mostly due to playing on the perimeter of the offense zone, it was almost entirely passing to get the puck for a Malkin one timer from the right dot. They covered that, so all we did is try to get point shots off.  How many of those did the Blues block.   

 

He's just killing me.  The Blues did their homework and knew what to expect,  Coach Dan could not adjust. 

 

1) Agree.

2) I don't have too much of a problem with this one. If it came down to Engelland v. Pyatt, I take Engelland.  Both would have been too slow a roster for the game.

3) Absolutely agree.

4) Agree.

 

I'm don't think he's going about it the right way but I at least understand the ultimate goal.