After the Seattle Kraken lost their season-opener 3-2 to the Blues, coach Dan Bylsma answered reporters’ questions for more than nine minutes. The affable Bylsma even cracked a joke regarding the huge pregame ovation for assistant coach Jessica Campbell.
“I was waiting to see if the reaction to me would be as loud. It wasn’t.”
Discussing your team blowing a 2-0 lead isn’t a fun part of an athlete or coach’s job. You and I wouldn’t like to sit before a room full of people and explain an unsatisfactory day at work. “Hey Dreyfuss, that fourth paragraph you wrote the other day didn’t make any sense. Will you be making corrections at writing practice?”
Bylsma, thankfully, understands that hockey media has a job to do just like he does. The coach also understands that reporters, bloggers, podcasters, etc., are the conduit between his team and his team’s fan base. One more thing he gets: a hockey season is an 82-game grind, so there’s no point devolving into road rage due to a poor performance.
None of this is to suggest that Bylsma has a laissez-faire attitude. You don’t have to be around the Stanley Cup-winner for long to feel how much he cares about his players and staff, his passion for the game, his desire to win. But he carries an equally important trait: perspective.
With volatile counterpart John Tortorella leading his Philadelphia Flyers into town last Thursday, I asked Byslma if he ever wanted to lose his cool. Before recounting the exchange, for those unfamiliar, a quick primer on the always-ready-to-erupt “Torts,” who’s coached in Tampa Bay (where he won a Cup), the Rangers, Columbus, Vancouver, and now Philadelphia.
Whether it’s an act, or a reflection of his true feelings – or a bit of both – coach Tortorella’s combative and tight-lipped responses have a consequence more important than hurting reporters’ feelings. He’s not communicating to the team’s fans, and when he does that, he disrespects the game.
That’s why I asked Byslma the question. And that’s why I don’t take for granted that he, and his players, stand up, take accountability, after losses as well as wins. (Though victories, like the Kraken’s current three-game winning streak, are admittedly more fun for us to cover, too.)
Me, Thursday morning: “Dan, you’re always very accommodating at these media scrums. Have you ever wanted to take the Tortorella approach?”
Bylsma, with a wry grin and after a thoughtful pause: “I have, occasionally. Doesn’t work very well for me. But… no. The answer to that is no.”
The Kraken have had many more reasons to smile than grumble lately. They beat the Flyers 6-4 Thursday, behind a four-goal 2nd period. Jordan Eberle and Shane Wright set a team record with goals eight seconds apart, and six Kraken lit the lamp. Saturday, Seattle knocked Calgary from the ranks of the unbeaten, 2-1 on Eberle’s overtime winner.
Across the continent Saturday, the Flyers, like the Kraken, lost their home opener. After Vancouver whitewashed Philly 3-0, Tortorella remained mostly low-key. However, he turned combative when pressed about Scott Laughton’s defensive mistake that led to a Canucks goal.
“Boy, you’re beating this one up, aren’t you? He was in bad position. I mean, I’m not going to get a white board up here and show it to you.” Asked if starting on the road led to lethargic play at home, he said, “No. No, no, no, no, no. This has been going on since the start of the year.”
Two days earlier in Seattle, Torts chose non-response when questioned about pulling goalie Ivan Fedotov after five goals allowed in two periods. “I’m not going to talk about Feds right now.” That doesn’t protect the player – it makes a smaller issue into a bigger one.