Ron Cook: Olczyk Driving Fancier Car

Sunday, July 24, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Flick the fast-forward button to October ...
The Penguins and New York Rangers have just played 65 minutes and are tied, 5-5. Penguins coach Eddie Olczyk looks down his bench and sends out his three skaters for the shootout as the frenzied sellout crowd at Mellon Arena gets ready for the climax of a spectacular hockey game.
"We're going with Alex, Ziggy and Mario," Olczyk barks.
That would be Alexei Kovalev, Zigmund Palffy and you know who.

Mark Recchi is left on the bench. He's off to a fast start this season with six goals in four games, pushing his career total to 462.
Rookie phenom Sidney Crosby also is bypassed, much to the dismay of the big crowd. Crosby has been everything they said he would be and more, torching the Rangers for three more goals, his second hat trick of the young season.
Kovalev is ready ...

OK, back to real time ...
"I'm hoping we don't get in too many shootouts," Olczyk was saying the other day. "I'd like to win in regulation and save some of the hair I have left."
Maybe save his job, too.

No one's life changed more than Olczyk's the instant the Penguins won the Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes Friday. Just like that, he went from being Lloyd McClendon -- the coach of a small-market, low-budget team with no expectations -- to practically Joe Torre or Terry Francona -- a coach whose yearly mandate is win it all or else.
At least that was my interpretation of something Penguins president Ken Sawyer said in those wonderful moments immediately after the Penguins got the marvelous news about Crosby.
"I expect this team to be what it was in the '90s once we get this thing put together."
Is that pressure or what?

No one said Olczyk was a bad coach when the Penguins were the NHL's worst team in 2003-04. It wasn't his fault. The system was to blame. The Penguins had no chance to be competitive.
But everything has changed. The NHL has a new collective bargaining agreement. The Penguins have Crosby. Soon, they could add a few more world-class players through free agency. Kovalev and Palffy seem like realistic possibilities.
Surely, everyone will be saying Olczyk is an idiot if the Penguins aren't in first place by, say, Oct. 12. Absolutely, they'll be saying it if the team doesn't make a deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs next spring.

"I know one thing. I know I won't work any harder than I did before," Olczyk said. "I won't be any more demanding on myself or my players than I was then. I'm still going to coach the way I believe is right. That's with the goal of winning the Stanley Cup."
Any coach who is worth anything will tell you he'd rather have the pressure and big expectations because that means he has a chance. Those low-pressure jobs in sports are greatly overrated. You had better believe McClendon isn't having a lot of fun with the no-chance Pirates.

"Everybody knows you've got to have guys capable of being difference makers," Olczyk said.
The Penguins will have them this season. But who can say for sure what Olczyk will do with them? It was hard to judge him as a coach in 2003-04, his team was so short-handed. Sure, it made progress as the season went on, especially in the final 20 games. Some of the young players improved. Ryan Malone and Konstantin Koltsov come to mind. And Ric Jackman finally found a home after years of wondering. But it's still a long way from worst to first.
For the players and the coach.

"Fasten your seat belt," Olczyk said, "it's going to be a wild ride."
It's nice to think Olczyk won't wreck the car. He was a great student of the game as a player, which isn't all that common for a 40-goal scorer. He's also young enough and, because of his playing background, has the ability to relate to his guys, from Mario Lemieux and Recchi to Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury.

Olczyk will need all of his strategic and communicative skills. He has got to find the right line combinations, defensive pairings and goaltender rotation. He has to convince his players that defense still matters in the new, hopefully wide-open NHL. "I don't care if they eliminate the red line and take the blues lines with it, you still have to play defense at certain times to win a championship," Olczyk said. And he has to keep everyone happy with their roles and ice time. That wasn't a problem on a young team with no stars, Lemieux aside. It could be a big problem on a team with better players and bigger egos.

Of course, Olczyk's immediate challenge will be to help with Crosby's assimilation. The kid comes with enormous expectations, but it's still a sizable jump from juniors to the NHL.
"It will be my job to put him in the best possible situations to succeed," Olczyk said.
Lemieux will be a huge help with Crosby. He has been in those skates, a young, can't-miss superstar who is asked to rescue an ailing franchise. Lemieux already knows Crosby and has a relationship with him. They trained together last summer. "We're well ahead of the curve there," Olczyk said.

Recchi also will help. He is one of hockey's best teammates and leaders.
But, in the end, it will be Olczyk who is judged, not just on Crosby's development, but on the team's wins, in shootouts or otherwise.
"Good players make good coaches," Olczyk said, shrugging. "Great players make better coaches."
We'll see.

(Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1525.)