Speculation: What player(s) on the Pens would make good head coaches someday?

[Jaded-Fan]

So moving onto some off season style topics, as we are almost there, I had an interesting thought.

Bylsma played in the NHL, albeit with a very vanilla career. Coaches often come from the ranks of players in all sports. Albeit with widely varied success levels as players. Noll was a very forgettable O-Lineman if I remember.

Who on the Pens gets by on their smarts enough that you could see them as quality head coach material someday?

Click to read more...

 

[iFishyHD]

Adams=Bylsma 2.0

But seriously, maybe a guy like Martin...

 

[Sivek]

Orpik has no problem telling others what they did wrong, so probably him.

/rimshot

Honestly, Martin and Niskanen seem like smart players that are well-spoken, so maybe them.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Adams=Bylsma 2.0

But seriously, maybe a guy like Martin...

Martin came to mind immediately when I wrote this.

Crosby, obviously. Though why he would want to do that I have no clue.

It is early, obviously, but Maatta seems to already be an extremely smart player. So maybe one to watch.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

Adams is being groomed for it. Maybe he'll be the anti Bylsma because god knows a young player never pushed him out of the lineup.

Niskanen or Martin, maybe? I could see Sutter trying to and I can just picture Orpik thinking it was a good idea as well.

 

[Darth Vitale]

I don't think anyone can really know that right now. I mean you can forget about the borderline knuckleheads like Neal and Letang, but among the others it's hard to know who the real student of the x's and o's is, maybe no one. Not like every team has a great future coach in waiting. Pretty rare actually.

If I had to pick one candidate I'd say maybe Orpik, Kunitz possibly. Bruce's demeanor could work in some situations, and I think he's a details guy from what I know of his habits over the years... not sure he's the kind of guy who could get players to rally around him though. Maybe he'll make an assistant someday, who knows. None of the Penguins strike me as coaching material, honestly.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

I don't think anyone can really know that right now. I mean you can forget about the borderline knuckleheads like Neal and Letang, but among the others it's hard to know who the real student of the x's and o's is, maybe no one. Not like every team has a great future coach in waiting. Pretty rare actually.

If I had to pick one candidate I'd say maybe Orpik. He demeanor could work and I think he's a details guy from what I know of his habits over the years... not sure he's the kind of guy who could get players to rally around him though. Maybe he'll make an assistant someday, who knows.

Yeah, Orpik is the current whipping boy, but that is more because he lost his legs, got old, and it shows. I am not sure holding the current version of him against him is entirely fair.

 

[krepitch]

Not sure about the Crosby idea.

Gretzky was an awful coach here and some people believe that part of it was that someone that great at what he did just couldn't understand or relate to people who weren't as good as he was.

I think you might have to look for players who really understand how all the parts work together...similar to why o-linemen and catchers have good success rates at becoming coaches/managers.

 

[Shady Machine]

Yeah, Orpik is the current whipping boy, but that is more because he lost his legs, got old, and it shows. I am not sure holding the current version of him against him is entirely fair.

Well if you want a coach that is great at pointing out what's wrong with everyone else but is surprised at the notion that anyone could question his performance or abilities, then yes Orpik would be great.

 

[billybudd]

Tomas Vokoun. Not only are a disproportionate number of coaches goaltenders, but he's got a pretty established history of telling other players they're playing like dog **** without any of them hating his guts.

 

[Malkin4Top6Wingerz]

Haven't seen Scuderi mentioned but he seems like a decent candidate. Very smart, well spoken guy with a level head.

 

[AEKaki]

Definitely Letang with Ian Moran as an assistant coach

 

[flaneur]

I don't see Adams becoming a coach. He is more of a management guy. When he retires I can see him taking his NHLPA position and transitioning it into a job with some department of the NHL and then onto some team's management with the ultimate goal of GM in mind.

I would have answered Crosby because he's smart and seems to know his stuff, but then I watched the Inside PensTV segment where they were discussing hockey terminology and he revealed he has never heard of many of the different terms for being benched ('grocery stick', 'duster', 'riding the pine' etc). Made me realize that as a superstar player he may never truly understand the psyche of the other levels of players that makes up a team.

The best candidate would have to be Neal.

j/k (sorry Neal...)

Maybe Martin or Sutter?

 

[MrBurghundy]

Sutter for sure.

 

[Alexdaman]

No doubt that Crosby will have a go at it. Hopefully it ends up better than Gretzky.

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Sutter is probably the best bet.

 

[#66]

Haven't seen Scuderi mentioned but he seems like a decent candidate. Very smart, well spoken guy with a level head.

Scuds for me too. He gets the team aspects.

 

[ilovealistair]

I would say Crosby. I''ve always heard he practices with the new guys pretty much whenever and he knows positioning very well and seems to know how to make good plays. I can see him having trouble getting into the players heads a bit but that's what assistants are for. As for him not understanding the teams limits (talent wise) I kind of think he does after playing so long.

 

[Shrimper]

Scuderi would be my guess.

 

[Ogrezilla]

Scuderi would be my guess.

Ok, so the forwards are crashing down on you and your forwards are streaking up ice. What do you do with the puck? That's right, softly reverse it around the boards.