| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Guest4680 |
Posted - 05/22/2008 : 19:01:36
If you could pick one man to scout the other team before a playoff series, Scotty Bowman would be a pretty good choice, right?
Well, Bowman's been watching the Penguins.
Closely.
A consultant for the Detroit Red Wings, Bowman scouted the final three games of the Penguins-Flyers series. He has, presumably, presented his findings to Wings coach Mike Babcock - and you can bet his report included a bit more than, "Watch out for that Crosby guy."
Bowman didn't win more games (1,467) and Stanley Cups (nine) than any other coach in NHL history by skimping on the details. You better believe he spotted the subtleties behind the Penguins' success.
"Pittsburgh's defensemen are way under the radar, I think," Bowman said Wednesday in a phone interview. "They're making good plays at the offensive point, quick decisions. They're not careless. That's probably the biggest improvement I've seen with the team."
Not the first thing you'd normally hear in a Penguins analysis, is it?
Bowman continued: "I think they had a big change -- a lot of people maybe haven't said it - when they got the young kid (Kris) Letang in the lineup."
Bowman doesn't buy the notion that the Penguins play a "defensive style." That's too convenient a term, too limiting.
"I wouldn't say as much a defensive style as making right offensive plays - high-percentage plays," he said. "You need to have the puck. Obviously, if you don't have offensive guys, you're going to have a tough time."
Bowman, 74, was the most recent coach to lead the Red Wings (2002) and Penguins (1992) to Stanley Cups. Clearly, age has not touched the man's incredible mental capacity. He is as bright and as much in love with the game as ever.
But he also has weathered some personal turmoil of late. His first-born son, Stan - named after the Stanley Cup, of course - has been fighting Hodgkin's lymphoma in Chicago.
Bowman always was a dedicated family man. One reason he took the job as Penguins' director player development and recruitment in 1990 was so he could travel to Buffalo, N.Y., to help raise his five children with wife, Suella.
Stan Bowman, 34, is on the road to recovery, his father said, after a recurrence of the disease and a stem-cell transplant.
"He went through a pretty big ordeal the past 16 months, had the same thing as Mario (Lemieux, who survived a bout with Hodgkin's disease in 1993) - only a little more severe, and it came back on him," Bowman said. "He's been out of the hospital for a few weeks and is getting good reports.
"He's strong, with a lot of will. We're hoping things can stay as good as they are now."
Bowman said he has called Lemieux a few times during the ordeal.
"He was very helpful," Bowman said.
Stan Bowman was born in June 1973, a few weeks after his father won Cup No. 1 with Montreal. For the first few years of the child's life, his dad called him "Stanley Cup."
"He wasn't too happy when we finally told him that wasn't his name," Bowman said.
Even though Bowman's tenure in Pittsburgh had some rough patches and didn't end great, he looks back fondly on his time here. For one thing, the coaching spark was rekindled. He didn't plan on coaching anymore when he arrived but was forced into the job when "Badger" Bob Johnson fell ill and later died.
Bowman realized he missed the competition.
He also remembers the first time Stan joined him on the ice for a Cup celebration. It was at old Chicago Stadium on June 1, 1992, when the Penguins swept the Blackhawks.
The following season, the Penguins looked unbeatable with a roster of star players and Bowman behind the bench. Several members of the 1992-93 team insist to this day it was better than the two Cup teams.
Bowman doesn't buy it. His reasoning should give you a hint as to why he has won more Cups than all the NHL's current coaches combined.
"Yeah, we did have a great team on paper," Bowman said. "But you really can't say you're a great team when you don't win it all."
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