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Since taking over the behind the Penguins' bench in mid-February, Dan Bylsma could do no wrong during his head coaching debut in Pittsburgh. His hiring, combined with the return of defenseman Sergei Gonchar, and the in-season acquisitions of Chris Kunitz, Bill Guerin and Craig Adams, helped the Penguins win their first Stanley Cup in 17 years. Everyone associated with Pittsburgh, it seems, loves the man known as Disco Dan (especially the owners of Qdoba mexican restaurants).The one exception appears to be forward, and current free agent, Petr Sykora.
Sykora recently gave an interview to a Czech newspaper, which was translated at Let'sGoPens.com, that quoted Sykora as saying the following when asked about returning to Pittsburgh for a third season: "No. My agent talked to the management, and I won't be back. When the coach does not want Sykora, nothing can be done."
He continued: "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."
This is quite a change in attitude for Sykora, as he told Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette back in February that Bylsma was one of the hardest working players that he had ever played with.
The problem with Sykora's comments is that Bylsma gave him plenty of opportunities to make an impact after the coaching change on February 15. Since the Penguins' 6-2 loss in Toronto on Valentine's Day, the game that ultimately cost Michel Therrien his job, Sykora recorded just four goals and three assists in 29 games (and that includes his seven playoff games). He's a streaky player, no doubt, and he's also a very one-dimensional player, and when he's not scoring goals (like he wasn't from February-June) he's of little use to his team.
That seems like a far more likely reason for his benching during the postseason (and now his exit from Pittsburgh) than a former teammate getting some sort of revenge in the middle of a Stanley Cup Playoff run.
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