As the Coachella Valley Firebirds hockey team welcomes its first head coach, it is with all the enthusiasm of a drum roll, because Dan Bylsma has a long track record as a hockey coach, including a Stanley Cup championship.
When the Firebirds' announcement hit Twitter on Tuesday, one could almost hear the Palm Desert minor league team's applause: "Drum role please...The Coachella Valley Firebirds welcome to the team our very first head coach, Dan Bylsma!"
Demonstrating an extensive record of success with semi-professional and professional hockey leagues, Bylsma has a career 0.615 points percentage at the professional level, Hockey Reference said.
Among those strong points, Bylsma won the Stanley Cup as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2008-09 season, his first season as head coach, Hockey Reference said. Two seasons later, he won the Jack Adams Award, the NHL's award for the top head coach in the league.
Bylsma played 12 total seasons between professional and semi-professional hockey leagues, from the 1992-93 season to the 2003-04 season, HockeyDB.com said. During that time he played for two NHL teams, the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
The Firebirds will kick off their inaugural season in the fall at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, a report from Wikipedia said. They will be the 32nd franchise in the American Hockey League and a minor league affiliate of a new NHL expansion team, the Seattle Kraken.