New Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill will have to win over skeptical fans with results.
Granted, basically anyone the Hawks hired — once top candidate David Carle decided to stay at the University of Denver — would’ve had to do that.
The Hawks announced Blashill’s hiring Thursday after nearly a week of speculation.
“Jeff is an incredibly smart and talented coach,” general manager Kyle Davidson said in a statement. “He’s thrived when in a position to develop young players and has shown he’s capable of blending that into overall team success.
“[That’s] a vision and philosophy we share for where we are today and where we see our team in the future. We couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come under Jeff’s direction.”
Blashill, 51, previously served as the Red Wings’ head coach from from 2015-16 through 2021-22 before spending the last three seasons as a Lightning assistant.
It’s unclear what the rest of Blashill’s Hawks staff will look like. Davidson previously said he would keep former interim coach Anders Sorensen in the organization, and that could be as an assistant coach. More details might come Tuesday, when Blashill will be formally introduced.
In Detroit, Blashill worked extensively with young players, overseeing the development of the likes of Dylan Larkin and Filip Hronek and, later in his tenure, Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond.
He made the playoffs only once, however, and that was in his first season. The Wings promptly entered a rebuild after that, and he had little opportunity to succeed in terms of wins and losses once they did so — but he failed to succeed nevertheless. Among 79 men in NHL history with more than 500 games coached, Blashill’s .447 points percentage ranks 75th.
His Wings systems involved forwards aggressively forechecking and counter-attacking while defensemen played more conservatively. Considering most of the Hawks’ young NHL talent is currently concentrated on defense, it’ll be interesting to see if those systems change.
Before landing in Detroit, Blashill’s track record was stellar; he has very much proven he can succeed at lower levels. He led the now-defunct Indiana Ice to a USHL championship in 2009, then led the Grand Rapids Griffins to an AHL championship in 2013. The Griffins were dominant throughout his three years there.
And since leaving Detroit, Blashill had been in an excellent spot in Tampa, working under and learning from Jon Cooper — one of the league’s smartest and most established coaches.
He and Cooper have a close relationship, having first faced each other in the USHL. That is a feather in Blashill’s cap, as Hawks players and staff are eager to adopt some of Cooper’s approaches.
Individually, Blashill helped oversee the Lightning’s defense and penalty kill, which was effective. Former Hawks forward Brandon Hagel, now with the Lightning, raved about Blashill in a text Thursday.
“He teaches you how to play the right way,” Hagel wrote. “He’s hard on you but very understanding. You can tell him what you think, as well. [He’s] very easy to approach.”
In Chicago, Blashill won’t be asked to blow the roof off immediately. Everyone knows there’s a long climb ahead. But he will be expected to demonstrate he can make that ascension happen faster and steadier than it did — or really didn’t — for the Wings.
The fan base’s reaction was unsurprisingly lukewarm Thursday, ranging from disappointment about the team failing to land a bigger fish — such as Carle or new Rangers boss Mike Sullivan — to a “wait and see” mentality.
Blashill becomes technically the fifth Hawks coach under Davidson, although only two of those have been permanent hires made by the league’s youngest GM. Blashill is the first of the five to bring any prior NHL coaching experience.
Their fates are now somewhat intertwined. Whether or not Blashill turns out to be the right choice will greatly impact the fruitfulness of the Hawks’ rebuild and, in turn, Davidson’s security and legacy.