21. Bylsma saw first-hand the strength of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in their early years. Both of those players are bigger and more powerful-looking than Eichel. Does he see the upcoming number-two pick having a more difficult transition?
“From what we know, (Eichel’s) power numbers are extremely good. His vertical, again from what we know, would be the second-best among the Sabres…so there’s a powerful base. He still needs to work on strength and to get bigger, but what he generates is an enormous amount of power. The way he can accelerate, you don’t see someone do that every day.”
Question: “Wanted to clarify. His vertical, would that be second-best among his age group, or the entire roster?” Answer: “The entire roster.”
22. When the Sabres traded for Evander Kane, a couple of scouts/executives wondered if he would be a match for an Eichel or a Connor McDavid because Kane likes to carry the puck, and the centre would need that responsibility. Bylsma sees that could be an issue. But, noting Eichel and Kane’s speed, he added, “If that can work, imagine it coming at you.” Bylsma sat down with Kane for three hours after taking the job and spoke to former Jets coach Claude Noel, too.
What did Noel say?
“There is probably not a guy who is more competitive than Evander Kane,” Bylsma replied. He was not going to reveal anything else.
23. Last season, Bylsma did an interesting interview with NHL.com’s Dan Rosen where he admitted he was studying the benefits of carrying the puck in the offensive zone versus chipping it in. He believes, for example, making defenders turn and chase is more uncomfortable for them, especially if a powerful forechecker (like Kane) is breathing down their neck. His Pittsburgh teams were known for chipping and creating a footrace.
What did he learn? That carrying the puck in increased your percentages of getting a shot, but “what that means offensively, I’m still coming to grips with,” he said.
“I know what it means defensively, that if you don’t let them carry-in, you know where the shots come from… Playing offence, you want to create a ‘grind factor’ on a defenceman. What’s hard on them? Frankly, carrying the puck in does not make it hard on defencemen.”
He laughed about testing it out on his 16-year-old’s team. Back to the big boys this fall.
24. Finally on Bylsma: what else did he work on during his season off the bench?
“I wanted to take a look at different teams and coaches, the cadence of their line shifts, patterns, tell signs, implementation of personnel. Do they match forwards and defence, or just defence? Zone starts. It was kind of an out-of-body experience, not looking at anything the way I watched it before,” he said.
With more time to watch, he looked pretty deep. Will be interesting to see if it changes any of his own habits.
