Loootta digital ink has been spilled with the announcement today that Ray Shero WILL NOT fire head coach Dan Bylsma, instead opting to extend the entire coaching staff another two years. It seems many fans wanted Bylsma axed for the playoff struggles of the Pens in the past 4 seasons. So I went ahead and checked the records of every team and coach* that has been active in said playoffs over that same amount of time.**
*no rhyme or reason to the order. the first eight in each conference are the top eight from the 2010 playoffs, bottom few are teams in each conference that have made the playoffs since.
**can't just forget about dan's 16 wins the season prior to the following data.
| Team | Playoff Record | Coach 1 | Coach 2 (if needed) |
| EAST | |||
| WSH | 17-20 | Boudreau 14-16 | Oates 3-4 |
| NJD | 15-14 | Lemaire 1-4 | DeBoer 14-10 |
| BUF | 5-8 | Ruff 5-8 | |
| PGH | 20-21 | Bylsma 20-21 | Jesus 0-0 |
| OTT | 10-13 | Clouston 2-4 | MacLean 8-8 |
| BOS | 38-23 | Julien 38-23 | |
| PHI | 23-22 | Laviolette 23-22 | |
| MON | 13-18 | Martin 12-14 | Therrien 1-4 |
| TBL | 10-7 | Boucher 10-7 | |
| NYR | 16-21 | Tortorella 16-21 | |
| FLA | 3-4 | Dineen 3-4 | |
| NYI | 2-4 | Capuano 2-4 | |
| TOR | 3-4 | Carlyle 3-4 | |
| WEST | |||
| SJS | 25-24 | McLellan 25-24 | |
| CHI | 33-19 | Quenneville 33-19 | |
| VAN | 22-24 | Vigneault 22-24 | |
| PHX | 12-15 | Tippett 12-15 | |
| DET | 20-22 | Babcock 20-22 | |
| LAK | 29-21 | Murray 4-8 | Sutter 25-13 |
| NSH | 13-15 | Trotz 13-15 | |
| COL | 2-4 | Sacco 2-4 | |
| ANA | 5-8 | Carlyle 2-4 | Boudreau 3-4 |
| STL | 6-9 | Payne 4-5 | Hitchcock 2-4 |
| MIN | 1-4 | Yeo 1-4 |
May I quickly remind you that Dan Bylsma and the Pens went 3-4 against the Lightning in 2011 with no Sid or Geno, and Mark Letestu as the mainstay #1 center.
So Boston and Chicago are your run-away winners, and will rightfully be playing for the Cup again in this year's SCF.
The Kings are the only team that got away with the Dan Bylsma way of doing things…canning an ineffective coach and winning with a new guy later that same season.
Bruce Boudreau and Randy Carlyle are the only coaches with multiple playoff teams in this same stretch, coincidentally both taking teams from the East AND West to the dance. Both coaches have below .500 records in the playoffs in both conferences in this stretch. Paul MacLean is the only offseason replacement coach to get to .500 with a team that had previously made the playoffs. He's 8-8 with one series win.
Ray Shero says he wishes to emulate Detroit's stability in the front office and coaching ranks. Mike Babcock has a similar record to Bylsma and his most recent Cup happened before Bylsma's.
In the East, Peter Laviolette has more wins than Dan Bylsma, but also more losses. He also missed the playoffs more than Bylsma over this stretch. And his Cup happened forever ago by comparison, not with the Flyers.
In the West, Alain Vigneault has a similar record. Again, no Cup, and underachieved with a similar set of Art Ross winners, an MVP and a Quebecois goalie from the 2010 Olympics.
Staying out West, Todd McLellan is staggeringly above .500 in the playoffs over this stretch. He has no Cup to speak of.
My point in bringing this up is to hopefully show, IN PLAIN FACTS, that Ray Shero made the correct decision in extending Dan Bylsma. With the amount of turnover among playoff team coaches, only once since Bylsma has a reactionary change worked…Sutter. And that wasn't even an offseason move. If we look at who was available to replace Dan this year, you got your Torts and Vigneault, who have proven themselves lesser than Bylsma, not even counting Dan's Cup. Or maybe the Pens could've won with Pete DeBoer!
There's also rumors Ted Nolan is being required to take a pay cut to stay with the Latvian men's team. Shero should've got on that before extending Bylsma.
Please draw your own haphazard conclusions.
Go Pens.
