At the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs, conventional thinking had the Penguins needing to win a round -- maybe two -- for coach Michel Therrien to keep his job.

Guess who you're going to get to kick around for another season?

There are many reasons to be thrilled about the Penguins' domination of the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers, but the fact that it secured Therrien's future here at least for the short term is at the top of my list. I can't remember the most recent time I respected a coach more because of his honesty, strength and convictions.

Bill Cowher, maybe?

Jim Leyland, Joe Paterno and Chuck Noll, for sure.

That's pretty high company.

It's a crying shame that Therrien isn't one of the three candidates for the NHL's coach of the year award.

I've got no beef with Washington's Bruce Boudreau or Montreal's Guy Carbonneau. Boudreau led the Capitals to a remarkable 37-17-7 finish and the playoffs after replacing fired Glen Hanlon in late November. Carbonneau led the Canadiens to the Eastern Conference's best record in the NHL's toughest market. Therrien knows all about how rough Montreal is on its coaches. He was fired by the Canadiens in 2003 after two-plus seasons.

"It was like going to Harvard," Therrien said of that learning experience.

But how is Detroit's Mike Babcock a finalist ahead of Therrien? The Red Wings had the NHL's best record, but they didn't have the injuries the Penguins did.

That's why Therrien had to laugh after the Penguins lost Game 4 to the Rangers -- their only loss of these playoffs -- when asked how his team would respond to the adversity.

"Adversity? I don't think [one loss] is adversity," he said. "This team faced adversity during the season, losing our captain and our goaltender ... There were a lot of times we had seven or eight players out of the lineup. We had a lot of guys up from Wilkes-Barre ...

"The odds were against us. That was adversity."

Despite the long-term losses of Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury, the Penguins finished with 102 points, two fewer than Montreal. Therrien did a phenomenal job keeping his club on track.

He has been even better in the playoffs.

The biggest thing is the way Therrien has convinced a team loaded with offensive stars to play responsible defensive hockey. Fleury has been fabulous, but he will tell you his teammates have done a great job limiting the opponent's scoring chances.

Therrien was widely second-guessed after shuffling his defensive pairings before the series against the Rangers. Why fix something that isn't broken? But Therrien had his reasons, most dealing with matchups. How can you argue with the Penguins' success?

Check this out: In two of the three games at Mellon Arena, when Therrien had the final line change, the Rangers' great Jaromir Jagr didn't get a shot.

Game 5 Sunday was the best example of the all-around team the Penguins have become under Therrien. The Rangers had three shots in the final 19 minutes of the first period, none in the final 14:50 of the second period and none in overtime.

I'm thinking coaching had something to do with that.

Therrien has consistently shown great faith in all of his players, rolling out four lines. He was rewarded with huge goals from Gary Roberts, Max Talbot and Jarkko Ruutu against Ottawa and even bigger goals from Ruutu and Georges Laraque against the Rangers. He has received terrific energy from Tyler Kennedy and wonderful penalty-killing from Adam Hall.

The benefit of using all of his players is that Therrien is keeping stars Evgeni Malkin and Crosby fresh. They are averaging 21:01 and 19:43 of ice time. Compare that to Washington's Alexander Ovechkin, who averaged 24:03 in the Capitals' series against Philadelphia. That will be important later in the postseason, which, everyone knows, is a marathon, not a sprint.

There have been other things from Therrien. The timeout in Game 3 against the Rangers, which clearly settled his players. The fact he has been spotting two centers in the defensive zone for faceoffs late in games in case one gets waved out. The fact he used Malkin and Marian Hossa as penalty-killers late in Rangers' power plays, which made the Rangers a little less aggressive.

Off the ice, Therrien was quick to deliver a powerful defense of Crosby after the Rangers accused him of diving early in the series. He also vigorously defended Crosby and Malkin after they took bad penalties late in the Game 4 loss to the Rangers. You think his other players might have noticed?

I know the playoffs have nothing to do with the coach of the year award, but you can't tell me Therrien shouldn't win it.

"Recognition is nice, but that's not my main focus," Therrien said the other day. "My main focus is on my players, my assistant coaches, my management."

Penguins general manager Ray Shero laughed when he said Therrien probably shouldn't want the coach of the year award, anyway. "I told him not to hope too much for the darn thing when he was nominated for it last year [after leading the Penguins to a 47-point improvement]. A lot of times, when you're coach of the year, it just means you get to be coach for a year."

That was in reference to how quick NHL teams are to fire coaches, even successful ones. The Penguins are a perfect example of that foolish thinking. They've never had a coach start and finish four consecutive seasons.

It's nice to think Therrien will be the first.

"I'm a big believer in loyalty and communication. So is he," Shero said. "The loyalty and communication is there both ways.

"I think he and his staff have done a great job. Look at the results.

"I know people look at him when we don't win. Any time we hit a bump in the road, people want me to toss him overboard. That's the easiest thing for a manager to do. But what would that fix?"

Nothing.

In the Penguins' case, nothing needs to be fixed.

Not with Therrien in charge.