Fresh off another playoff debacle and the subsequent firing of the franchise's all-time wins leader, the Pittsburgh Penguins have found their next head coach.

The Penguins introduced Mike Johnston, coach of the Western Hockey League's Portland Winterhawks, as the replacement for fired Dan Bylsma. They also named Rick Tocchet an assistant coach.

Even though Johnston, 57, was not general manager Jim Rutherford's top choice — Willie Desjardins went to the Vancouver Canucks and Bill Peters was hired by the Carolina Hurricanes — Johnston's offensive-minded approach would seem to mesh well with the Penguins' personnel.

"My basic framework of a system is puck possession, puck management, tempo and pace," he said in a news conference on Wednesday. "If you own the puck, you play defensively a lot less."

Johnston had been the general manager and coach of the Winterhawks since the beginning of the 2008-09 season, leading them to the Final four times. He had previously been an assistant with the Los Angeles Kings for two seasons, and was an associate coach with the Vancouver Canucks from 1999-2006.

Internationally, he coached Canada in the 2009 World Under-18 Hockey Championships in 2009 and was an assistant for Canada in the World Championships in 2007, when Canada went 9-0 en route to the gold medal. He was an assistant for Canada at the 1998 Olympics.

While he doesn't have NHL head-coaching experience, it was only a matter of time before he was given a chance.

"If you're going to be an NHL coach, certainly the coaching experience I've had is key," he said. "Recognizing how NHL players are - the schedule, the demands of the schedule - that's the experience I've gained as an associate coach."

He's joining an organization that has massive expectations. The Penguins have reached the playoffs for eight consecutive seasons, winning the Stanley Cup in 2009, but bowing out in disappointing fashion in the playoffs that followed.

Despite winning a franchise-record 252 games in his five-plus seasons, Bylsma couldn't make the needed adjustments to replicate his initial playoff success. This past season, the Penguins saw a 3-1 second-round series lead disappear in a loss to the New York Rangers.

"My strengths are building a program, building a template, building an identity, so that the identity is very clearly understood by the staff (and) the players," he said. "That's important in any line of work, that there is an identity that you can grab on to."

PHOTOS: NHL coaching changes

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