Dan Bylsma's First Questionable Coaching Decision...

"Byslma Said The Lines Will Be What?!"

So if it isn't obvious already, I am in full NHL mode, or should I say Pittsburgh Penguins mode.  Last night as I was watching Notre Dame get completely dismantled by Alabama, I put the TV on mute and got on the ol' iphone.  I was looking at my "Penguins" app (great app if you don't already have it) and noticed there was some new video...the first "Coach's Corner" of the season.  Obviously, I tuned in.  If you've watched this like I have, its 25 minutes of reporters peppering Dan Bylsma with questions that he A) can't answer or B) doesn't know the answers to because the CBA hasn't been ratified yet.  Nonetheless, I listened...but there was one thing that I was shocked about when I was listening.

About half way through the media session, Bylsma was kind of shocked when a reporter asked him "Who do you think will be on your top 2 lines?"  Bylsma almost seemed confused when he was asked this question...as if to suggest "how am I supposed to know that right now?!"  Needless to say, he had to answer the question.  I was expecting the age old "coach speak" answer of, "We will see who meshes well together and will put together the lines we think will give us the best chance to win...blah blah blah"  However, "Disco" Dan didn't run away from the question...it was his answer that shocked me.  I had written in my article on the Top 3 Questions the Pens need to answer heading into the season, and one of them was can the Penguins FINALLY give Sidney Crosby a worthy winger along side him.  I said this based on the fact that I didn't see any chance that the Penguins would break up the James Neal (#18), Evgeni Malkin (#71), and Chris Kunitz (#14) line.  So, here I was listening to the Bench Boss say that the top line would be Sidney Crosby (#87), Chris Kunitz (#14), and Pascal Dupuis (#9).  I expected Dupuis to play with Sid, but I had to actually go back and re-listen to that sound byte.  Did he really say that he was going to break up the best line for the Pens last season and put Kunitz with Crosby? 

Granted, this was the line that was extremely effective before Crosby experienced his head/neck injuries.  Dupuis had a phenomenal end to last season as "Super Duper" was being chanted at Consol Energy Center, and Chris Kunitz and Crosby have a great relationship on the ice and a chemistry that equates to points.  However, breaking up the 71, 14, 18 line still doesn't make much sense to me.  I know Malkin and Neal will stay together (Bylsma said that would be his #2 line) and they will try to find a winger (Tyler Kennedy most likely) to fill out the number 2 line.  Chalk this up as Dan Bylsma's first questionable coaching decision.  Am I being hyper-critical...maybe, but I also have to think what would be best for the Penguins as a team.  Crosby is a talent that can play with anyone, as long as that other person can capitalize on the opportunities given to him, but the 18,14,71 line last year was playing out of their minds. 

This is one of many difficult questions that Dan Bylsma must answer with a short training camp, and a shortened season.  It would be easy as a coach to stick that same line together as last year and see how they develop through the season, but with only 48 games you don't have much wiggle room for poor play.  Bylsma is going with what he thinks will be best for his team and I can't blame him for that, but at the same time its hard not to question his thinking while it seems he is forgetting the successes of last season.