The Buffalo Sabers and the San Jose Sharks filled their coaching vacancies on Thursday. That leaves the New Jersey Devils as the only team in the NHL without a head coach. The Sabers hired Dan Bylsma while the Sharks hired Peter Deboer. Both of these coaches have NHL experience. Are they the right coaches for the job?
The Buffalo Sabers were looking for a head coach after they decided to let Ted Nolan go in April. All signs pointed to Mike Babcock taking the job because General Manager Tim Murray worked with Babcock in Anaheim when he was head coach from 2002 to 2004. Babcock went to Toronto instead. That still left Buffalo with out a coach.
Buffalo went with one of the best coaches on the market in Dan Bylsma. Bylsma is a winner. He coached Pittsburgh for 6 seasons, winning 252 regular season games. They never missed the postseason and won the Stanley Cup in 2009. Last year, he didn’t coach in the NHL.
Bylsma is the right guy for the job. He knows it won’t be easy to win games but wants to change the losing ways in Buffalo. According to ESPN Bylsma said, “The expectation for the winning culture and how we play is not going to change. And that’s going to start, starting today. And it’s going to continue as we go, as we develop this group.”
General Manager, Tim Murray, believes Bylsma will make Buffalo a winner. He said, “We’ve been trying to change the culture here every day, but this is a big swing to the positive. This is part of the process of getting better. We improved today by hiring him.”
The Sabers hired the best available coach. He has an outstanding winning percentage in the regular season of .668. It will be in a rebuilding mode and may be a few years before the Sabers reach the playoffs but Bylsma will be able to turn the Sabers into a consistent playoff contender.
The San Jose Sharks have a new coach as they hired Peter Deboer to replace Todd McLellan who was fired on April 20th. McLellan was the San Jose Sharks coach for the past seven seasons. They only missed the playoffs once and that was this year.
Peter Deboer was a finalist for the San Jose Sharks job seven years ago. The Sharks went with Todd McLellan over Deboer because he didn’t have any NHL coaching experience. He now has that experience. He coached the Florida Panthers for three years and the New Jersey Devils for the past four seasons. Deboer has a career record of 205-183-70. He only made one trip to the NHL playoffs. In 2012 with the New Jersey Devils, they went all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. They lost to the Los Angeles Kings in 6 games.
Deboer sees a real comparison to when he took over the New Jersey Devils. According to ESPN he said, “There’s a lot of similarities. What I found with the group in New Jersey that I see here, is I see a group of veteran guys and young players that have hit a little bit of a rut here. I think their true character is going to be tested. I see enough character in that room that I see a big bounce-back year.”
General Manager Doug Wilson stated “Peter was really going to be one of the standards to me for the other candidates. They all did a great job, but it ended up at a place that does not surprise me with Peter being our head coach.”
Deboer is taking over a talented team who is ready to win now. They have experienced players in Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, and Scott Hannan. Their goalie, Antti Niemi can take them far in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. All they needed was a head coach. Deboer should be able to take this team to the playoffs next year.
What do you think of these coaching hires for the San Jose Sharks and the Buffalo Sabers?
Leave a Reply