Oh, yeah, that’s clear enough! I’d like to think Bylsma’s more of a professional than that—maybe Sykora was just a bit jealous that Bylsma got the coaching job. I can see where that would be unpleasant for both of them. I do hope Sykora finds friendlier ice elsewhere.

It’s also interesting because he’s probably the first player to have expressed nostalgia for Therrien. :-)

This is a sad ending to his career in Pittsburgh, but I don’t believe for one second that Bylsma had it in for Sykora because he was feeling all petty and jealous about their time in Anaheim. Bylsma had a chance to win the Stanley Cup in his first year as an NHL coach. He would not have benched someone for personal reasons with the cup on the line.

As much as I like Sykora, it’s not as though you could necessarily pick good spots to use him, if you were Bylsma, on account of how often Petr Gun was injured, or banged up. To poke at some kind of a ‘former player’ grudge kind of thing is pretty egocentric, something I’ve not really gotten out of Petr in anything I’ve seen from him. Whether it’s right or wrong, I wouldn’t know, but, as a coach, you want to put out the best team that you can. Last year a 38% Sykora wasn’t as good as a 38 year old Bill Guerin, nor as consistent as a 32 year old Craig Adams. Got to know what you have on the ice, and it was a toss up for Petr last year through injuries.

Hope him well where ever he lands, but I’m not expecting an injury free season for the guy. Still, he and Geno were a great 1-2 punch. Annoying things can crumble like that.

It’s never a good thing when you are coached by a former teammate. On top of that, he used to be a player who drifted around as a fourth-liner. I was younger than him, played on the top line, scored goals, was the little star. Now the roles got reversed, and from the first moment I had a feeling that he let me ‘eat it.’ I honestly say that I have not had liked him even as a teammate. Which does not happen to me often…

That really stood out to me. It seemed many people figured Sykora wouldn’t return but he definitely went out in a blaze of glory. I don’t blame the guy, especially if he felt he was wrongfully treated, but he wasn’t exactly a healthy consideration for most of Bylsma’s reign.

like sykora expected it to be a reunion between old teammates. so sorry sykora but in every pens fan’s book danny carries many more pages then yourself. its sad that he couldnt put his ego aside to play within the system.

I’m voting to give Sykora a break on this one. First, Sykora is probably kicking himself the hardest inside for laying another egg in the playoffs for the second straight year. It might come off as a cheap excuse to blame his relationship with Bylsma, but the amount of frustration Sykora is battling must be massive. It’s bound to come out in less than flattering ways.

Way to be professional Sykora thought he was better than that.

Maybe Sykora is a bit jealous because Byslma has a better career at coaching and once Sykora hangs the skates up he will be done for good, which I may had he should do very soon.

The end of the year Sykora looked slow and unable to keep the up-tempo game Byslma demanded, I guess when you cant handle it you get demoted.

Before reading this I certainly had more respect for Sykora than I do now. However, like mentioned by many people above we don’t know what he is going through and how he is feeling. As the famous quote goes (and I can’t remember the exact wording, but let’s just be happy with the general thought) “Don’t judge someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes”.

I wish Sykora the best with another team.

While my instinct is to give Syko the benefit of the doubt, and to wonder whether this maybe doesn’t come across in translation quite the way he intended, it’s hard to look at this and see it as anything other than sour grapes from a guy who’s wearing a 2009 Stanley Cup ring. Which itself is just hard to believe. I look at it this way:

1. It doesn’t shock me that Sykora and Bylsma have some animosity going back to Anaheim. From what I’ve heard, Sykora was not well-liked in that locker room. And referring to Bylsma as “a fourth liner who drifted around” – while he was “a little star” – might help explain that. For the record, the little star scored a grand total of four goals in Anaheim’s 2003 playoff run.

2. Insofar as EVERY OTHER PLAYER on the Pens responded very well to Bylsma almost immediately after he was brought in, Sykora seems to stick out as the problem child. Given all we know about how tightly knit the Pittsburgh locker room was towards the end of the year, I have a hard time believing that could have occurred if Bylsma were allowing personal jealousy or vendetta to guide his coaching decisions.

3. Injury isn’t really an excuse for not showing up in the stretch or in the playoffs. Everyone is nursing something by that point in the year, and I doubt I need to remind anyone that Gonchar basically played the last 2 rounds of the playoffs on one leg. The contrast to Miro Satan is a good one; Satan was a former star who played his way to the minors for the stretch run, but he worked his tail off and earned his spot in the lineup. Sykora didn’t do that.

4. My guess is that Sykora will play next season in Russia rather than the NHL. Oh well. Happy trails, Petr. We’ll always remember game 5 in the 2008 Finals, OK?

While my instinct is to give Syko the benefit of the doubt, and to wonder whether this maybe doesn’t come across in translation quite the way he intended, it’s hard to look at this and see it as anything other than sour grapes from a guy who’s wearing a 2009 Stanley Cup ring. Which itself is just hard to believe. I look at it this way:

1. It doesn’t shock me that Sykora and Bylsma have some animosity going back to Anaheim. From what I’ve heard, Sykora was not well-liked in that locker room. And referring to Bylsma as “a fourth liner who drifted around” – while he was “a little star” – might help explain that. For the record, the little star scored a grand total of four goals in Anaheim’s 2003 playoff run.

2. Insofar as EVERY OTHER PLAYER on the Pens responded very well to Bylsma almost immediately after he was brought in, Sykora seems to stick out as the problem child. Given all we know about how tightly knit the Pittsburgh locker room was towards the end of the year, I have a hard time believing that could have occurred if Bylsma were allowing personal jealousy or vendetta to guide his coaching decisions.

3. Injury isn’t really an excuse for not showing up in the stretch or in the playoffs. Everyone is nursing something by that point in the year, and I doubt I need to remind anyone that Gonchar basically played the last 2 rounds of the playoffs on one leg. The contrast to Miro Satan is a good one; Satan was a former star who played his way to the minors for the stretch run, but he worked his tail off and earned his spot in the lineup. Sykora didn’t do that.

4. My guess is that Sykora will play next season in Russia rather than the NHL. Oh well. Happy trails, Petr. We’ll always remember game 5 in the 2008 Finals, OK?