Is Jeff Blashill the right coach for the Blackhawks?
The Chicago Blackhawks are looking to a familiar face to lead the franchise to better days.
As reported by Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli, the Original Six franchise is set to hire Jeff Blashill to be the team’s next head coach.
The Sault Ste. Marie native is best known for his time as the bench boss for the Detroit Red Wings, for better or for worse. In seven seasons in Hockeytown, he posted a 204-261-72 record, only guiding the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
After Detroit moved on from him in 2022, Blashill joined Jon Cooper’s staff with the Tampa Bay Lightning as an assistant coach.
On Thursday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss whether Blashill is the right guy for the Hawks.
Frank Seravalli: They’re getting a guy that has been there and done it. They’re getting a guy that has a ton of presence. That’s the first thing you notice when you’re around Jeff Blashill is that he commands a room. … I think every NHL head coach is so much better the second time around. He’s an incredibly sharp guy. I’ll tell you that he was handed the Detroit Red Wings job, that was like delivering a s— sandwich. On the back end of a fantastic playoff run for 25 years, it’s a team that just needed to rebuild. They needed to tear it down. … It had really nothing to do with Jeff Blashill and his coaching ability but everything to do with their poor roster and personnel decisions along the way. So, not to say that you aren’t what your record says you are, because I think there’s something to that as a head coach, but I think context matters.
I’ve seen some stuff out there on social media. “The Hawks just got worse, congratulations on hiring Jeff Blashill.” He has spent three seasons on the bench with John Cooper, one of the inarguable best coaches in the game, and a team that wins. You don’t think Jeff Blashill is taking what he learned in Detroit and added to it in a significant way with what he’s learned and experienced in Tampa? You’re out of your damn mind. So, I look at that and I say, the Hawks are in an interesting spot. I don’t know that they necessarily were head over heels in their process in terms of once they got past David Carle, who didn’t say yes, they had to take a step back and go to the drawing board. I think Jeff Blashill is the best name that rose to the top of the list that can help this team take an important step forward.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…