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NHL AWARDS CEREMONY

June 22, 2011

Dan Bylsma

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA

NHL COACH OF THE YEAR

Q. The seconds when Donnie Osmond was up there and you knew it was coming?
DAN BYLSMA: I think it was tougher thinking about how disappointed my son would be if they didn't say "Dan Bylsma" so I was happy he didn't have that disappointment. A little nerve-wracking my first chance to get an award of this magnitude and I didn't picture Donny Osmond being the guy who announces it.
Once I found out service Donny I had a couple of jokes I thought about saying for 45 seconds, wasn't enough to thank the media and that would have been hard for a coach to do thank the media, and I know the media has voted on this one so it's a privilege and thank and you quite an honor.

Q. How tough of a job was it this year, only putting out there the guys you had but was it difficult to keep the team playing at such a high level with the injuries you went through?
DAN BYLSMA: I would like to tell you that it was. I would like to tell you that I did something marvelous to keep it going but that's not the case.
In looking back I really think the best thing that we have done and continue to do is our players have a clear understanding of how we're going to have success as a team and how we're going to play and which Steve went out and then Geno was out for a short amount of time and he got an injury and was out for the rest of the season, that was a blow to our team and even when we got players at the deadline who were new to our organization, they saw the players expect to do well and know how to do well and hold to that standard.
At that time when y'all were asking questions about what we were doing I felt sheepish thinking, I'm really not doing that much. I think all that was done long before the injuries happened so that's what we did and the players did an amazing job of keeping on going with the hard times and kept expecting to win and did.

Q. Dan, in winning this award and knowing what the team overcame to get to where they did this year, with all that said, does that make it any less tough with the way the season ended?
DAN BYLSMA: Well, you know, I would like to think that we lost in the playoffs to a really good team with good players who were playing well and, you know, who were coached very well and we pushed 'em and had 3-1 and looked like we could push 'em over the edge, we weren't able to muscle up the goal that we needed to win in games 5, 6 and 7.
I'm really proud of the way we played this game, Game 7 in this playoffs versus the last playoffs, we battled hard and we were tenacious and I know, Jen, you love that word approximately but I'm proud of our group even though we didn't come up on the right side of Game 7, took some solace in Tampa Bay moving on, but I learned a lot and our team kept expecting to do well and we expected to win going into the playoffs and maybe that's where the disappointment is, because if you looked at our roster at the beginning of the year and said there is your lineup, I don't think anyone would have given us a chance but that team we expected to win going into the playoffs and we thought we could win 16 and maybe if we would have had players back in could have helped us out but I'm still proud of them and this is award is an indication of what the players did and what our team did through the diversity and fashioned our team into a very good team.

Q. Dan, winning this award does that make it Bylsma 1, Shero 1?
DAN BYLSMA: I heard Ray was trying to down play me to the media to keep his dad as the only winner he knew but looking back at the names and the other coaches and seeing that it did start with Fred Shero I was hoping to be able to get my name on there, and be part of that history and taking it back to when Ray Shero was a 10 year old boy.

Q. Did you study the history and see who is on there and now your name will be etched on that trophy forever?
DAN BYLSMA: I think once the season ended and I have a little more time to stew in our grief of not moving on, yes, I've looked at the names and looked at the coaches that have won multiple awards, Pat Quinn is on there again and that one struck a nerve with his great career as a coach and Scotty Bowman is on there, and there were coaches not on there, and that was a bit of a surprise but seeing the other coaches that have won this award and now my name will be next to them is pretty humbling and special.

Q. Is there anything left for you to do?
DAN BYLSMA: I look at Scotty and see his handful of rings I still think there is a lot to do and it's such a challenge every day with the team and the players that it's been seven years since I started coaching, it feels like it's gone by in a flash.
I don't feel like I've had the same situation or win stance happen to me yet, so it's fresh, invigorates me and now I have energy and passion to keep it going so I am going to prove, yeah, there is more to do.

Q. How much of an impact do you think the HBO coverage made on you winning this award?
DAN BYLSMA: I think it's significant, even within the Pittsburgh community meeting people they had a picture of me in their brain and see about 5% of who you are and I've often had to tell people that's not really me. If you think that's a serious guy standing behind the bench who doesn't show a lot of emotion, I'm a terribly emotional person and guy and I have a huge passion for the game and it's not shown when I'm behind the bench.
I've heard that a lot and 24/7 if they could see a little more of the coach that I am, I think that opened some eyes to some of the people about maybe the different style than they thought I was and the rapport that we have with our players. I think it was advantageous by me, I'm not going to be putting an asterisk by the award just because I had 24/7, though.

Q. Could you have dreamed that this early in your NHL coaching career that would be this chance that you could be so highly decorated at such an early stage?
DAN BYLSMA: Not in the least. I am a pretty aggressive goal setter, and even for myself, I wouldn't have put -- if I was following my career pattern I would be starting my third year of what I thought in the American Hockey League as a head coach. I told my wife I would be here for at least three more years when I started, and I was wrong! I certainly had it on my list of goals to be a coach in the National Hockey League and more so than even playing, I think winning is an important part of proving yourself as a coach and to see our team have so much success, to win a Stanley Cup is really great. Some of that is out of your control, I feel fortunate to have an opportunity with Pittsburgh, a great organization, however, I'm real proud of the fact that I got the opportunity and I'm going to keep at it and keep going and not try to look back on too many of these awards and I'll be looking at that when I'm a little older and fishing with my son 15 years from now.

Q. How much does it mean to you to have a little bit of long-term security with the extension you signed earlier this year?
DAN BYLSMA: I mentioned in my short 45-second speech how important my wife is to my career. She pushed me at the end of my playing career to commit to being a coach and our family to commit to being a coach so to come home and tell her we are going to have three more years of financial security is a pretty good thing. To think about our son being in the same school for four or five years is pretty exciting for us, too, to have that kind of security in our family.
Coaching is all about winning and I lost my last game so I want to win the next one, but to have that security has been important for us.

Q. Did you bring your family with you?
DAN BYLSMA: They're here, yes.

Q. How many kids do you have?
DAN BYLSMA: One boy, Bryan, Bryan and my wife is Mary Beth.

Q. How old is Bryan?
DAN BYLSMA: 12 and Mary Beth is not 12 (Laughter.)

Q. And two words?
DAN BYLSMA: Yes.

Q. Now that Jagr is thinking about coming back, how receptive would you be to him returning to the Penguins?
DAN BYLSMA: I envision a guy coming back to the NHL with a high amount of motivation. He doesn't need to, probably would make more money somewhere else, but if he could come back as a motivated player and a guy who is coming back to prove he can win in the league and to win the Stanley Cup wants to come back to certain teams and I think that says something.
To think about a guy who scored 75 points his last year in the league and then you see him in the world championships, it would be outstanding. I've talked to players and his teammates there at the world championships, the work ethic is high and the leadership is there in the room and the guy who competes at a high level, that's an intriguing factor to think about add to go your team when you think about supplementing Crosby and others. It's intriguing to think that might be a possibility.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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