Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma stands behind his bench during the third period of an Eastern Conference semi-final NHL playoff hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens in Pittsburgh Saturday, May 8, 2010. The Penguins won 2-1.Gene J. Puskar/The Associated Press
NHL coaches have no shortage of critics, but Dan Bylsma does not have to go far to find his toughest one.
Shortly before the Pittsburgh Penguins left for Montreal on Sunday, their head coach told a gathering of reporters that before he faced them he first had to endure a grilling from his 11-year-old son Bryan. The Penguins may have taken a 3-2 lead in their Eastern Conference semi-final the previous night with a 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens but the younger Bylsma wasn't completely satisfied.
There were several things he wanted to know, according to his father, from why he didn't use a headset, like Habs assistant coach Kirk Muller, to why he would play a journeyman like Pascal Dupuis on a line with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
"He asks good ones," Bylsma said after he mentioned his son pointed out the Penguins have not won a playoff series at home in two years and someone asked if the kid could grill him better than a room full of reporters. "Today, he asked why I had Dupuis up with Malkin and Crosby.
"And he was asking about me without the headset. He asked why I wasn't communicating with upstairs like Kirk Muller.
"I said sometimes there is a lot going on in my head and I can't talk on the headset. That's why coach [Tony]Granato gets to talk on the headset."
Bylsma shook his head, looked at his audience and said, "My brain's tired."