Dan Bylsma on Coaching Bertuzzi, Sid & Olympic Teams | JD Bunkis Podcast

Dan Bylsma on Coaching Bertuzzi, Sid & Olympic Teams | JD Bunkis Podcast

I’ll never forgive the Leafs for ruining HBO’s 247 series apparently they were just such a pain in the ass to deal with that HBO just went you know what that’s enough we’re good we’re good the editors at Theon beliefs wouldn’t let wouldn’t stop wouldn’t relent our next guest had still

One of my favorite quotes ever from that series uh he’s the head coach to the Coachella Valley Firebirds Stanley Cup champion Jack Adams winner Stan bosma how’s it going man I’m great I’m great I’m curious as to what the the quote is you know what the

Quote is it’s such a good quote I’m sure people have said it to you a million times can you guess uh I’m not sure it’s scar it’s where you were like I was a hockey player it’s like damn that’s a cool ass thing to say it’s like I like my scars

Shows I was a hockey player I remember watching that getting chills going that’s how you become a head coach in the league is you say that to guys and all of a sudden they’re trying to block shots with their face going I got to get one of those like my only Scar from

Hockey is my friend Shane closed my pinky finger in the van door one time after practice that’s the only one I ever got it hurt though like it hurt like a son of a man I’m telling you it was bad yeah that’s a that’s actually a a

Common minor hockey uh injury yeah VOR finger in the car door I’m never forget to he didn’t want to open the door because he was afraid my finger was going to fall off and I was like please open the door because it was my left hand like I couldn’t get across I was

Just there stunned only pinky finger in the door no rest of hand uh not a good one my finger was definitely hanging not as cool of as a hockey scar as yours so uh you’re with the Kraken affiliate right now you’re first in the Pacific Division your team’s red hot so

Congratulations on that uh but seriously how do you keep guys focused when you’re in Palm Springs and it’s most known for golf courses and you’re coaching hockey players it’s uh it’s actually that’s how you do it that’s I think a lot of golf trips a lot of team bonding on the

Course yeah clearly right now Coachella is uh a ideal destination for the American Hockey League as we as we speak right now I’m uh walking out in 65 degree morning weather and uh the mountains are out behind the palm trees and the golf courses within eyesight um

Right now so it’s uh it’s it’s a great place to to come and play hockey M it’s uh minus 13 in Toronto today it’s windy it’s dark it’s not as good it’s really yeah Palms rigs that’s nice that’s probably feels pretty good being there I

I I could I could be down for a quick trip you are really in this interesting position it’s it’s very like I I don’t want to say Ted lasso is but there’s something very cool about getting to be the head coach of an expansion team in a non-traditional market like you know

This thing comes together you become the head coach I’m curious how it’s been different from your other experiences given that yeah this thing got started from scratch yeah to totally from scratch expansion team new team um you know new area new building new new fans uh we had

No idea really the the success we would have with uh the community and the fans and uh obviously in a in a non-traditional market so it was uh ground up um it uh was a a new beginning in a lot of ways for the players uh also for

Myself and and uh it’s been it’s been awesome to to you know they you don’t necessarily put together a team it’s uh Ron Francis M Kraken and and Jason botell um expansion draft was a part of it a couple years ago but uh you know we’re a new organization and so we’re we

Don’t have many drafts uh to have so we were kind of like an expansion team we were free agent uh free agents and uh again players from the expansion draft were were coming to this to our organization but it was a completely completely new experience and it was one

A great one to build from the ground up and and what we’ve created here in Coachella Valley with the weather of the fans the community of the building it’s it’s a special place and then in turn we’ve uh had a special team the last year and a half winning a lot of hockey

Games well it’s cool because you know getting to build a new team you get to try to do things differently right you get to try and impose the the changes that you would maybe want to see uh and try to leave certain stuff behind but I would imagine

Still though as a head coach when you’re just focused on winning in your group and you know you’ve got Player Development that’s a huge part of what you’ve got to do at the AHL level does does all the other stuff that has surrounded being a team that start from

Scratch make your job harder like how has it been from a practical standpoint for you yeah there’s definitely um you know the the whole organization was was uh was new and new to hockey in a lot of ways we you know from a from a building

Of the team to to travel to training camp to uh it was it was new forever and we’re we’re uh bringing hot people to the hockey for the first time so there wasn’t an infrastructure built into the team there wasn’t uh how to do things there wasn’t uh you know this is what

We’ve done in the past this is how the the Firebirds have done it and this is how we’re doing it it was you you start from literally square one with with everything and everyone and um there was uh you know last year in particular uh we started without a a building being

Finished until December 18 we played 22 games away from Coachella Valley started in Seattle for a month and a half and and played a few home games up in Seattle but uh we had 22 games away from the valley to start the season so there

Was a um a lot to ask of the players it was a lot to ask of the the group and we definitely had uh you know some some Growing Pains uh but I think they were they were positive for they were positive for the team and they’re positives for the organization well it’s

Also cool too there’s something about being a a hockey person and a hockey fan uh especially in a market like that where when you bring someone into the game and they have that initial excitement for it of discovering it where you really like hockey is very different from the other sports in that

Way where it’s like you get excited seeing someone else learn about the game or come to the game in a different way from the other sports and like that’s always felt like a bit of a Canadian thing where we really nationalize our sport we always really want uh whenever

America gives us a little bit of attention but I’m sure too as an American who’s been in it his entire life there’s that added feeling of it too like hey this is an awesome sport you should be watching this sport this isn’t a niche Sport and you get excited

When you’re in a market like that too or there’s some kind of reinvigoration for you seeing yeah people experience this for the first time like is that the same way or is that more of a Canadian thing no it was it was a really quite unique over the course of all of last

Year and we’re um seeing the benefits of it this year in our but we we are we stepped off the plane in in December 18 come to come to Coachella Valley and we didn’t quite know what we were going to get in terms of our fans in the

Community and and we as you as you mentioned about the population and in Palm Springs in the area um it’s older we had a it’s it’s there’s older population and there’s snowbirds and uh we thought we might get a group of fans that were snow birds and Canadians and

And we have a lot of people from Seattle that come down here in the winter and and so that’s what we saw at first we saw um you know a building with snowbirds we saw a lot of plates from Alberta um Manitoba we s British

Columbia we saw a lot of those uh car license plates in the parking lot and as the season went on um you saw more and more people from the community um from Southern California you saw Ducks jerseys and King jerseys he saw shark jerseys and and at the end of the season

We go into playoffs and as you know the 180 days is up and we were losing a lot of the fans that we had during the season but they were being replaced by uh people from the area that were coming to hockey maybe for the first time or

Had been distant fans of of the team teams in the area teams in California but didn’t have a hockey team of their own and by the end of the playoffs the building was filled with with uh young old um new fans and uh it was a completely different atmosphere almost uh you know

A Vegas type atmosphere to the building and it was uh great to see um just a a whole different realm of fans coming to our games in the atmosphere of our games is is uh pretty pretty special not it’s it’s not maybe a traditional hockey atmosphere it’s more of uh more got a

Soccer feel to uh not quite as great as soccer fans are but uh a little bit more like a soccer feel to the the energy of the fans that’s great and you know we established that you’re a hockey lifer like you’ve been around the game as a

Player a coach and uh yeah God long long time that you’ve been doing this and and yeah but I I’m we spend a lot of time right now talking about hey the state of the game and where it’s going and why it’s happening this way and I’ve had

Guests on talking about you know professionalization of Youth Sports and the way that’s impacted a sport like hockey that for a long time uh had a like a passion quotient that I think was a little bit bigger than maybe it is right now but you’re you know you’re Now

With an AHL team where it’s a younger group right and I know you’ve got some older players I know you’ve got some vets on that team like you know for some people former Leaf Connor Carrick with your team um but coaching younger players are are you are you noticing

Like a significant difference in terms of the way young guys need to be coached do we overstate that as Outsiders right now like has the game from a coaching standpoint changed as dramatically as we in the media and some Outsiders make it seem from time to time like what has

Been your experience with that it’s a good it’s a good question and you know I I uh I think that my I I don’t see the the the players entering the game now or the younger generation being uh the PE the things that have changed I

I feel like the things that have changed is the is the coaching if if we’re talking about going back 10 years and going back 20 years I think um I I think it’s probably the US the coaches that have needed to change and that have changed and are coaching differently

Than 20 years ago um you know there’s U and I don’t know maybe that’s because we it need needed to change or um maybe that does mean the generation is changing that these players need to be coached differently but I I don’t uh I don’t see

Um the coaching that I got maybe let’s just go all the way back to when I started and talking in the 90s um I don’t see that type of coaching or the type of coaching that I got work work very well okay so um I think it’s we we have we have

Changed and uh I I think that’s a good thing I think um I I I love coaching uh in the American Hockey League um these players have a place to go they have a clear goal in mind we’re developing them uh they want to get to the NHL and they want to get

Better and they want to have the answers and um I think as a coach you uh you have to provide it for him and not just not just uh open the gate not just blow the whistle for for uh for practices you got to provide them with the answer because

They have a high motivation level to get to where they want to go which is the National Hockey League yeah I just when I the way it seems to be going like obviously there’s some things that did need to change and that’s happened in all sports but usually there’s like a

Period of overcorrection and I wonder if we are in a little bit of that time period now especially when you’re maybe not as heavily as the AHL level for you right now like I’m sure that you’re comparing and contrasting or that you have at least in certain points because

Yeah you do hold a lot more power in terms of sway of who is going to get a call up to hit their Ultimate Dream their ultimate point of destination but that yeah it’s gone from more of a the power Dynamic of a coach has certainly shifted like outside of the just you

Know ability to uh I’m trying to think of a word outside of you know the way I want to say it with a player uh but you but I think everybody can kind of get the gist of what I’m trying to to drive at here but that maybe it’s more of

Trying to figure out like connecting with the players in a different way but establishing that Authority like you just said it of you know giving them the answers giving them the tools that maybe the power Dynamic has shifted more from like player coach to partnership between the coach and the players I I

Yeah I I that that may be a good way to look at it I I just looking back in my career there’s you know I I learned I there’s some skills and there are some things that I learned at 26 and 27 and 29 years old that I I was well into my

My professional career and and you made the NHL at 26 and 27 and I’m learning things about the game about skating about the game that I never been taught I’ve never been told and I you know I’ve had a lot of coaches in the path of professional hockey

But I there’s lots of things that I had to figure out on my own I didn’t get I didn’t get those from my coach I had to do it through you know trial and error and I had to do it you know butt my had

Up against uh the wall so to speak and um I I think I think uh as a as a coach I I view it my role to um whether it’s be a partner but I’m I’m their help to get to where they want to go I’m their help to

Get to be the kind of player they want to be yeah um it sounds like it’s harder to coach now just sounds like it’s way harder to coach now like that answer I’m going God this is hard this is really really hard what he’s what he’s got to

Do uh okay so the original reason that I wanted to have you on was because the Olympic uh the Olympics were coming back to hockey and I was trying to think about like who would be cool to chat with about those times and then I was looking at you know what you’re doing

Right now I’m like oh I got to talk to him about a bunch of these things cuz this is pretty fascinating itself but you know it’s sad because you were the last head coach of the US men’s hockey team and it’s been a decade since we’ve

Had best on best hockey at the Olympics and I’m sorry with all due respect of the tournament that we tried to throw here in Toronto with uh the under 21 team or the young gun team and the team Europe mismatch it’s just it wasn’t it it wasn’t it and everybody knew it in

The city right away it didn’t pass the smell test and that’s why people weren’t going and it wasn’t really uh uh yeah celebrated event that had a a long life cycle but yeah it’s going to be 2026 so 12 years three Olympic Cycles or sorry two Miss Cycles is what we’re going to

End up having what what is it what did you think of when you first heard that it was returning like what is it going to mean to us hockey especially that has been chomping at the bit to show how much they’ve closed the gap between yeah

Teams from the past and and the Canadian teams of now yeah I I think in you know I think for for hockey I think it would be tough to to find someone who said the Stanley Cup wasn’t the the biggest prize of course in in our sport but I I I

Think the a gold medal in the Olympics is is equally as it’s right there with that answer of the Stanley Cup being the greatest the gold medal and the Olympics is is a special thing it’s a special tournament and it’s uh I think everybody um wants to see that or you

Know it’s it’s not always been able to do it but everybody wants to see that best on best uh represent your country Olympics gold medal is is as as special as you know winning winning the Stanley Cup so to hear a three you know to hear

That we were going to be able to have it return to our our Nations and you’re going to be able to represent your country in the Olympics and a chance to win a gold medal is is you know it’s it’s one of the greatest things it’s one of the greatest stories in our

Sports that you know at least this for us in in the US 1980 in the US winning a gold medal um in Lake Placid so it’s s super pumped to to be able to have the Olympics back and to have it be best on

Best and um it’s yeah it it it just it creates a great story and it creates some great anticipation for what we’re going to see with uh the the best players in the world competing and in competing for a gold medal well it’s especially interesting here because yeah

For the last um yeah these last two cycles USA Hockey has gained on Canada in a very noticeable way like you’re seeing it pretty much every year at the Juniors you’re seeing it every year at the draft you’re especially seeing it because now we’re back to creating fake

Rosters of who we think is going to be on each team and you look at the American side you’re like whoa that’s way better than it used to be uh that’s actually pretty terrifying considering the way that things used to go and yeah like I I think back to SOI the thing

About that was Canada was just to me anyways I don’t know you know you probably feel about differently being the coach of the Americans but the gap between Canada and the rest of the countries I don’t think has ever been that Stark like the blue line Canada had

I still think is the best that’ll ever be assembled the dominance they had in that tournament was incredible again you guys had a talented team but how how has USA Hockey taken such a step forward over the course of the last decade where we we’ve gone from hey this is not a

Conversation to oh my God they they might win that’s exciting for me yeah it’s not for me I hate it I don’t even like hearing you laugh like that like take this is over this interview is over no but seriously how do this happen well I I think you

Know it’s still the challenge for Canada it’s like I it’s feel like we we were we were talking about it with the guys in the room a couple weeks ago and like you know would it would be a it would be a challenge to put together a third team for

Canada C Canada’s you know there’s Canada’s still um probably deeper and you go you know to put a team together for Canada is extremely difficult you’re going to be leaving off um some really you know some not some really good hockey players some great hockey players and you could

Have a second team and you could you know you could have a third team with with the rosters that Canada has but I think you know now you know maybe in the past maybe 2014 we certainly we had a lot of tough choices and we left some really really good hockey players off

And but now you could start to think about putting a second and a third team together for the US and you still have good hockey players to round out and so it I just I think the the quality of the player and the depth of the player um

You look at down middle and you’re like whoa that that’s pretty good and and uh that’s not pretty good that might be you know equally as good as staring across at McDavid and and so you have you have the depth and the quality and you’re there’s going to be a lot of tough

Choices there’s going to be great players that don’t make the US team um and it’s you know right right down the lineup of the defenseman and and the goal tending and so it’s you’re looking at you know you’re looking at just uh awesome and the depth of the the depth

Of the the pool is just is a lot lot deeper now and it’s just it’s amazing to see where over the course of the last 10 years the program the in Arbor and the world juniors the the death of of USA hockey is continues to get deeper and

Deeper and and and that just means you just have a a bigger pool quality players at the top yeah as a Canadian hockey fan I hate it and it it really does it is scary I want it I I really hope Canada in 2026 beats the breaks off

You guys and that we can sort of put this to bed for a little while but as of right now I will say that this is by far the yeah this is by far the closest that it’s ever looked in terms of a top end Talent between the two teams and going

Roster for roster like um and actually you know the the year you coached it was famous for the the TJ Sochi thing if people remember oh she just nonstop in the like taking advantage of the rules of being able to shoot the the shootout like over and

Over and over again and being nasty but people I think will very easily forget that Phil kessle was the leading points getter at that tournament he’s in Vancouver right now uh trying to attempt a comeback bid and listen this would be a failure of me if I didn’t try to ask

Someone who coached Phil kessle at a tournament he was having a lot of success at if they had a good Phil kessle story from the time coaching him uh well I I I don’t have a great one I I I was uh super excited curious to coach

Phil um he had Phil’s got a lot of no variety and um there are a ton there are a bunch of stories uh about about Phil but I was uh I actually was amazed at just uh the quality of player that he is the speed that he has

And the and the puck skills and his shot coming off the wing and um it was it was uh he was enlightening to see in person he was a extremely good hockey player and he has it uh in a you know he’s just got a a quiet

Um little bit smug way about himself with a maybe maybe a a voice that you uh turn your head at and yeah and look at I was gonna say are you’re not gonna do the voice because everybody does the voice whenever they tell the story notna do yeah it’s it’s head

Turning though it is head turning yeah it’s I I love everybody does the voice like whenever there’s a story people can’t resist actually doing it and it’s my favorite because almost everybody’s spot on like somehow it’s an easy voice to do uh but yeah it’s just I think that

There’s something about him that’s very much like you know how uh baseball players like let’s just not even say baseball players a lot of athletes used to like smoke cigarettes right we were like oh my God that’s so crazy that so many guys used smoke cigarettes and I

Think with Phil one of our Fascinations Beyond The Voice is that it’s the confidence of a guy um like that like where he’ll step up to Ryan re and be like yeah I can beat you in basketball no problem and he steps up he’s terrible at it watching the the videos that he’s

Got this insane amount of confidence that he is a great athlete like across all sports appar like you know you put him in a ping pong tournament he’s incredible golf all these different things but yeah the confidence but also that it’s like a throwback diet of someone who will be like you know

There’s a story here of he was basically telling Leafs like if you take away the soda machines he’s not going to play hockey you know it’s just there’s not too many guys like that anymore that are drinking as many like sodas as a guy like Phil Castle yeah a Snickers in a

Soda between periods I I was told about it and I was looking for it but you got to let it happen when he’s leading your team and scoring and you go like yeah I guess get him another Snickers get it in here hurry up hustle yeah you know the the European

Tournaments uh usually provide you with a unique dis display of of the the candy or the chocolate or the the flare of the of the nation you’re in so it’s it wasn’t Snickers and and it was soda but it wasn’t Snickers but it was might have been Nutella and yeah uh some other

Phone with chocolate in between periods but it was there yeah so that’s Phil so I got I got two more guys I want to talk to you about that you coached one is a guy that’s playing here right now who’s been struggling to produce and who had

Two of his best seasons with you when you were in Detroit as an assistant um Tyler bruzi he finally he he scored the other night and I think he had gone something stupid like 18 games out a goal it had just been uh an annoyance

For him because he does a lot of things well but he just wasn’t finishing Around the Net but again you were there the two seasons that he broke out and he scored 20 in both um I’m just I’m curious what you thought was the best way to get the best out of Tyler

Bzi yeah it’s a uh it’s a good question I think like you know we talked about coaching and and uh scaming and yelling and putting him out the door is probably not the best way for Tyler but he’s he’s also one who he needs to feel good to play good and

And um he’s uh emotional player as in when you emotionally you you feel good um you feel good about yourself you feel good about your game you play your best and he’s you know he’s uh he’s a competitor and he’s a um his strengths are his competitiveness and his nature

And he’s a bit of a um it’s not the prettiest game um it’s it’s Scrappy it’s Scrappy and it’s uh it’s battling and and he’s got to feel good about the about him he’s got to feel good about his game and you’re going to get a high compete level it’s

Not may not be the prettiest game in the planet but um his skills don’t jump off the table at you as you know if you’re putting together the perfect hockey player and you’re looking for the best skating and the best feed and the best hands the best shot and the

And the best Vision um you might not mention Tyler Who’s name and putting together that but he it’s uh it’s Scrappy and competitive and dirty and and when he’s feeling good about that he’s playing good and and uh you know he’s I I I haven’t I to be

Honest the leaf are not the team that I watch the most of of course hockey league but um I would would like Tyler to feel a little bit better about himself to to and feel good about his game to to to see what he’s adding because uh the few

Games that I’ve watched he hasn’t scored but he’s that’s he’s a competitive you know Scrappy get it dirty get it ugly get in front of the net get it play in the corners and and just get the job done and and uh that’s that’s that’s when

He’s at his best and and uh I I I think that would be something the Leafs uh would really want to have in their their lineup absolutely absolutely and you know it’s funny because the way that you’re speaking about him you got to wonder if maybe after breaking a slump like that

And because a lot of stuff you’re saying he’s been providing this year and it’s why even in a market that’s as critical as this one he hasn’t been criticized as much as a player who would get a big uh Financial ticket even though it is just

A one-year deal like he was there was a lot of promise especially coming off of the playoffs that he had had but people do recognize like he is in those dirty areas that he is a scrappy player that he is a really underrated playmaker it’s

Just the puck has not gone in from him to the point where people have wondered and myself included like if he’s cursed if there’s a curse because he’s just he’s he’s bouncing pucks off of you know wide open cages off the post like and you could kind of see the frustration

Start to carry in his game and now that he’s been able to get one and he’s kind of break this scoring streak with what you’re saying about the confidence of the player that maybe this is going to start to unlock a little bit of just

That now you can kind of get back on a roll when yeah you’ve been in a slump for a very long time finally C1 goes in it it can just loosen things up for a guy like that a lot and I you know I he hasn’t uh had a

Ton of chance to be able to do it in his career up to this point but I he I I do feel he’s uh he’s a playoff type player he’s he’s gonna he’s I wants the opportunity to to be able to do it in the playoffs gonna when he gets it I

Think he’s going to have a you know a chance to be an impact player at the important times for the leas last one and then I’ll let you go you’ve been super gracious with the time uh obviously you’re Sid’s former coach and penguins at risk of missing the Playoffs

Again there’s one year left on the deal and Sydney Crosby is still one of the best players on the planet at age 36 could you ever see him parting ways with the organization and try to pursue winning somewhere else uh well I you know the answer to that question is is

I we saw Wayne gresky move from Edmonton and so the answer is it can happen but I I don’t uh it’s hard for I think it’s hard for it’s hard for anyone to think that it’s possible yeah that’s how I feel about it it can’t it it it can it

Can happen for sure it happened to it happened to Wing gresy but I I you know I I have a hard time picturing anything but uh Penguins jersey on Sydney Crosby maybe Team Canada that one goes on them pretty good too but we like that

One uh it’s you like that one yeah um but uh I have a hard time picturing uh a different Jersey on in Sydney Crosby and uh um shoot I yes the Penguins uh you know are in the fight right now to make the playoffs with probably 20 30 28

Games left but uh he’s still playing at the he’s still playing at such a high level he’s still one of the best players in the game still and I I just see that I just in my heart feel that keeps going with the Penguins oh me

Too I just i’ I’d love to see him get enough another chance to win somewhere it’s weird always seeing those images like nobody likes the pictures of other Superstar players like the greats in the wrong sweater but yeah just I really yeah it would be a real shame if the

Rest of Sydney Crosby’s career ended up just being you know trying to scratch and Claw your way to the playoffs and then not really having a true path there uh Dan bosma again congrats on all the success this season man um yeah uh thank you so much for making time for us today

We really appreciate it absolutely thank you hey take care apprciate time

Dan Bylsma, Stanley Cup Champion and current Head Coach of the Coachella Valley Firebirds of the AHL, joins JD Bunkis to discuss the hockey market in southern California, coaching the younger generation, how top-end talent has poised U.S Hockey to challenge Team Canada, and tips for coaching Tyler Bertuzzi.

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