Bylsma begins second act of coaching career

Fifteen years ago, Dan Bylsma, the new Seattle Kraken head coach, was in the right place at the right time. On Feb. 15, 2009, a Pittsburgh Penguin team struggling to make the playoffs promoted Bylsma then coaching the Pens’ American Hockey League Wilkes-Barrie affiliate.

Bylsma at 38, became the youngest coach in the National Hockey League. He compiled an 18-3-4 record for 40 points, the second most compiled by an NHL coach in his first 40 games. On June 12, the Penguins won the Stanley Cup making him the second mid-season coaching replacement to win a championship.

No one’s expecting to Bylsma to duplicate that feat next season (although stranger things have happened) but there’s one similarity – the past two seasons, Bylsma has coached the Kraken’s AHL affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds, In fact, the Firebirds are still in action. They begin their Western Conference series final against the Milwaukee Admirals starting tonight (Mar. 29).

Bylsma took time out from coaching preparation to fly to Seattle yesterday where general manager Ron Francis and team owner Samantha Holloway introduced Bylsma as the second head coach in Seattle history. The press conference started with a video of Bylsma’s playing and coaching career (Bylsma joked that he was surprised that the Kraken were able to get a clip of one of the 19 goals he scored in his NHL career as a member of the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks).

Francis said he interviewed five people for the job (“I’m not one for doing an interview if it’s not a serious interview”) but decided on Bylsma, who has led Coachella Valley to the Western Conference finals two consecutive years.

Now older (53) and wiser, Bylsma’s looking forward to his first NHL head coaching job in six seasons.

 

“Four years ago, I discovered the joys of coaching again. Connecting with the players, developing a plan and getting on the same page as the players. They want to be part of the discussion of how they can get better. I’m better prepared for this job than I was four years ago.”

 

Bylsma’s coaching career has been a bit of a roller coaster. He was the fastest coach to reach 200 wins (in 368 games) and in six years with the Penguins, the team chalked up over 100 points in Bylsma’s four full seasons with the team.

He was fired when a new general manager (Jim Rutherford) came in, and he lasted two seasons with the Buffalo Sabres where the team failed to make the playoffs. Bylsma’s career seemed to be on a downward trajectory after that. He served as an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings for three seasons. Then he took an assistant coaching job with the AHL Charlotte Checkers in 2021, when that team included players from both the Florida Panthers and the expansion Seattle Kraken.

“I wanted to make one more go at being a head coach,” said Bylsma. “That led to Charlotte. I did have an eye on CV for the following year. I admit that.”

In his first year at Coachella Valley, Bylsma led the Firebirds to the AHL finals where they lost to the Hershey Bears in seven games. At CV, Bylsma coached Joey Daccord and Tye Kartye, regulars with the Kraken this past season, and Shane Wright and Ryker Evans, who had some NHL experience last season and will probably be regulars with the Kraken next season.

The Jessica Campbell Story

At Coachella, Jessica Campbell served as one of the Firebirds’ assistant coaches. Campbell, who played for Cornell University, the Canadian National team and the Calgary Inferno of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, was named an assistant coach with Coachella in 2022, the first fulltime woman assistant coach in professional hockey. There’s even been speculation that she could be in line for the CV head coaching job, but Bylsma strongly hinted that she could be accompanying him to Seattle next season.

“I’ve talked to Jay Leach and Dave Lowry (Kraken assistants last season) and we’d like to bring in somebody else,” said Bylsma. “Jessica’s a part of that conversation. (CV assistant) Stu Bickel is part of that conversation going forward with a staff here. What they’ve done with players like Tye Kartye and Ryker Evans is evidence of that.”

The Disco Dan Story

In the 1994-95 season, Bylsma was a member of the International Hockey League Phoenix Roadrunners. Since every respectable hockey player has a nickname, Bylsma was known as `Bysie’ for most of his career. But on the Roadrunners, that nickname had already been taken by a veteran NHL goalkeeper on the Roadrunners – Byron Dafoe.

Disco Dan has become a common monicker for people named Dan, just like Campbell hasn’t avoided being called `Soup’ in her career. Former major league outfielder Dan Ford is probably the most well-known Disco Dan, but apparently Bylsma was known for dancing in the locker room. Perhaps, just living up to his nickname.