Pittsburgh Penguins Fans Should Leave Mike Yeo Alone

When the news came out on Tuesday night that Pittsburgh Penguins assistant coach Mike Yeo was leaving the organization to take a head coaching position with the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League, it seemed like most Penguins fans could hardly wait to bid him farewell.

Most of the comments I saw were of the “good riddance” and “Thank God he’s gone” varieties.

A lot of the fans feel that Yeo was to blame for the Penguins’ power play woes the last couple of seasons. Even Ray Shero noticed and commented on it in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . It turns out some segments of the Penguins fanbase had created a “Yeo Must Go” slogan to push for the assistant coach’s firing.

Isn't that almost wrong for a group of fans that claim they are so passionate about the Penguins? The same fans—who claim they support the team no matter what—openly called for someone's firing, even going as far as to make fun of Yeo when he had health problems earlier in the season.

Pittsburgh fans need to back off Mike Yeo, especially now that he is leaving the organization.

I’m not trying to deny the Penguins’ problems on the power play. At points, it was laughably bad as they seemed to do the same thing over and over on almost every power play:

Pass puck over and over again. Opponent clears puck out of zone. Penguins chase it. Passing marathon resumes. Opponent clears puck once again, and a Penguin has to chase it down. Then they do some more rushed passing for the rest of the power play when they should’ve already had something together.

Before you knew it, the power play was over, and the Penguins had failed to convert yet another man advantage.

But I hardly thought it was fair to blame Yeo for this.

Why couldn't we blame players such as Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, Sergei Gonchar, and Kris Letang, among others, who were part of the power play unit at some point of another?

Why couldn’t these players, who supposedly comprise one of the best young teams in the league and being paid millions of dollars, execute a power play?

I never expected them to score on 100 percent of their power play opportunities, but it should’ve been better than it was. You can’t entirely blame Yeo for the players’ faults on the ice.

I admit that there have been hockey coaches I haven’t been fond of. But even when I don’t like a coach, I can acknowledge that they can only do so much to help the players. It is entirely up to the guys in uniform to execute.

The Penguins power play unit did not, and they should be held primarily responsible instead of passing the buck to a coach.

Since Yeo was in the organization for the last 10 years in three different roles (AHL player, assistant coach in the AHL, and assistant coach in Pittsburgh), it was obvious that Penguins management saw something in him to keep him around.

When Michel Therrien was fired in 2009, look who went with him: Andre Savard.

It was obvious that Savard was deemed as the lesser of Therrien's two assistants, and Yeo was a better fit behind the bench.

It’s obvious that the management did not agree with the fans that Yeo was that horrible. They had every right to fire him when Therrien got let go, but they kept him around. Even Dan Bylsma agreed that Yeo should be kept on staff.

So I guess the fans may also think that Ray Shero, whom they generally worship as a general manager, and Dan Bylsma had terrible judgment. How dare they keep Mike Yeo!

OK, that last sentence was sarcasm.

My apologies to my fellow Pens fans, but I would wager that Shero and Bylsma know more about what Yeo can do as a coach than those of you reading this article, and they also likely know more than me.

Finally, Pens fans should lay off Mike Yeo because he has reached his goal of being a head coach with a professional hockey team. Why should he be an assistant forever?

When we “normal people” take a job, we are always striving to reach the next big goal in our professional lives. Whether that goal is a promotion at our dream company, a stepping stone to the industry we’ve always wanted to be in, or even a bigger paycheck, no one really dreams of doing one job for their whole lives.

Yeo is finally getting what he has worked hard for the last 10 years.

I think rather than continuing to put him down for the Pens’ problems, Penguins fans should let the past be the past. Congratulate him on his new job and wish him the best. The new season will be a fresh start for him and the Penguins organization.