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View Full Version : Starkey: Pens' soul-searching commendable



X-Terminator
10-24-2013, 09:00 AM
As the Penguins (http://triblive.com/sports/penguins/) headed home last spring, after a fourth consecutive playoff flameout, their leaders seemed lost in a haze of conceit and denial.

Problems? What problems? Nothing to see here. Move along.

General manager Ray Shero and coach Dan Bylsma seemed intent on continuing to do all the same things with mostly the same people, expecting different results.

Is that not the definition of insanity?

It sure seemed that way.

But they didn't proceed that way.

Give the GM and his coach immense credit: They refused to succumb to the status quo. They pulled a Clint Hurdle is what they did. They “honestly self-evaluated,” as the Pirates manager likes to say, and reached some hard conclusions:

• Their system needed an overhaul.

• Their goaltender needed way more support.

• Their players needed to hear another voice on the coaching staff.

• Their defense corps needed a calming presence.

That's quite the checklist, when you think about it, but Shero and Bylsma aggressively attacked each item. When the team showed up for training camp, it probably looked the same to the untrained eye. But it had changed significantly. The brain trust had addressed each of the aforementioned issues, all to benefit the club next spring but all paying immediate dividends in the form of a 7-2 start.


Read more: http://triblive.com/sports/joestarkey/4925090-74/bylsma-penguins-coach#ixzz2ieEE2GmU
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