Dan Bylsma (2015) - Hall of Fame - Bowling Green State University Athletics

Dan Bylsma

Induction:
2015
Class:
1992

Bylsma, a native of Grand Haven, Mich., played 157 games as a member of the BGSU hockey team from 1988-92 and has excelled as a coach in the National Hockey League following the conclusion of his playing career. Bylsma scored 87 points (37 goals and 50 assists) during his collegiate playing days and was a two-time first team Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA) All-Academic Team member as well as earning honorable mention status once. He earned the program's Dr. Ron Zwierlein Leadership Award for the 1991-92 season.

Interestingly, Bylsma's name is littered in the BGSU record books for his penchant for short-handed goals. He is one of only two players in school history to score two short-handed goals in one game, doing so in a 6-1 win over Western Michigan on Oct. 28, 1989. He is also the only player in school history to score a short-handed goal when the team was two-men down, posting the game-winner in a 5-4 victory at Western Michigan on Dec. 6, 1991.

Bylsma was a sixth round selection of the Winnipeg Jets in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft and he played 429 games over nine seasons with the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, eventually retiring after the 2003-04 season. His 2002-03 Mighty Ducks team advanced to the Stanley Cup finals, losing a heart-breaking seven-game series to the New Jersey Devils. Bylsma played in all seven games of the series.

Following his retirement, Bylsma began his coaching career, working his way up the ranks as an assistant coach in the AHL and NHL before earning a head coaching job with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the AHL in 2008-09. With the Pittsburgh Penguins scuffling to a 27-25-5 record that season, management made a change and brought Bylsma in as the head coach. He promptly guided the squad to an 18-3-4 record to close the regular season.

That team dispatched the Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, where Bylsma directed a dramatic seven-game victory after losing the first two games of the series. The Penguins won game seven 2-1.

Bylsma led the Penguins to the playoffs in each of the next five seasons and he has a career coaching record of 252-117-32. He earned both 200 and 250 career wins faster than any other coach in NHL history. He earned the Jack Adams award in 2010-11, given to the NHL Coach of the Year and was head coach of the 2014 USA Olympic hockey team – one of nine Falcons to be Olympians. He was named head coach of the Buffalo Sabres during the 2015 offseason.

"My four years at BGSU as a student and as an athlete were a dream come true," Bylsma said. "It was instrumental in developing me into the person I am today. It is a huge honor to be elected into the BGSU Athletics Hall of Fame."

Bylsma is a 1992 BGSU graduate of the college of business.