Get comfortable with Jeff Blashill as the Chicago Blackhawks’ next coach

With every passing day, it seems more and more likely that Jeff Blashill will be named the next head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.

When I first heard the news, I was underwhelmed. When I compiled my mental list of candidates, Blashill was firmly in the “other guys” category. So I set out to find if my feelings towards Blashill were founded, or if he could be the guy to take the Blackhawks to the next level.

Who is Jeff Blashill?

Blashill, 51, is currently an assistant coach in Tampa Bay, working under Jon Cooper. Blashill runs the defense and penalty kill with the Lightning and is good friends with Cooper.

He began his coaching career as an assistant at Ferris State from 1999 to 2002, then moved on to Miami-Ohio, where he spent six seasons as an assistant. From there, he was named head coach of the USHL’s Indiana Ice and won the league’s championship in his first season.

After one more year with Indiana, Blashill was the head coach of Western Michigan before joining the Red Wings as an assistant the next season. Then, he was named head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Detroit Red Wings’ AHL affiliate, in 2012-13.

He captured the Calder Cup in his first season with Grand Rapids and was suddenly the next hot name in the coaching pool. The next season, he was named the winner of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award, presented to the AHL’s most outstanding coach. He’d coach one more season in Grand Rapids before being promoted to head coach of the Red Wings for the 2015-16 NHL season.

In his first season with Detroit, Blashill’s Wings, headlined by an aging core of Pavel Datsyuk (37), Johan Franzen (36), Niklas Kronwall (36), and Henrik Zetterberg (35), made the playoffs but lost in the first round to Cooper’s Tampa Bay Lightning.

Detroit wouldn’t reach the playoffs in any of Blashill’s next six seasons with the team.

Sportsnet’s @FriedgeHNIC with an update on Jeff Blashill and the Blackhawks on today’s 32 Thoughts Podcast. pic.twitter.com/kkisohmHoh

— CHGO Blackhawks (@CHGO_Blackhawks) May 19, 2025

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What went wrong in Detroit?

“He got a bad rap in Detroit,” Jeff Riger of 97.1 The Ticket told me. “He got the job as the team was about to enter a long rebuild. He made the playoffs in ’15, and they haven’t been back since. He had teams that were so horrendous it’s hard to hold that much against him. He had a young Dylan Larkin, and that was pretty much it.  To tell you how bad things were, Andreas Athanasiou was their second-best player.”

“He is a great communicator,” Riger continued. “He constantly preached structure, just probably didn’t have the guys to play it.”

ESPN’s John Buccigross and Greg Wyshynski offered their thoughts on Twitter.

“Excellent energy, command, & experience. Got the Detroit job at the WORST time,” Buccigross commented. “Everywhere else he’s coached, he’s improved the environment. Won championships in the USHL and AHL. He’s smart, self-aware & runs a good practice. This is a sweet spot hire for all.

“I think Jeff Blashill is a classic ‘better the second time around’ NHL coach that [would] be a solid hire for anyone,” Wyshynski said. “Getting three seasons on Jon Cooper’s bench after Detroit doesn’t hurt either.”

Of course, we don’t ONLY want the opinions of media types who rely on coaches to be available for interviews, so I reached out to my most level-headed Red Wings fan friend. They said Blashill was “Totally fine. Not amazing and never bad.”

Former Blackhawk (and Red Wing if anyone cares) Chris Chelios was a guest on 670 The Score’s Mully and Haugh Show on Wednesday, and was asked what Blashill could bring to Chicago if he is indeed the hire.

“I got a chance to coach with Jeff Blashill in Grand Rapids for two years,” Chelios said. “I was part of the staff there. We won the Calder Cup with him. Super guy. He’s been with Jon Cooper since Juniors. Coop’s his mentor. In Tampa, he got a little more experience as an assistant coach. I was talking to Coop about it. The one thing I thought Blash lacked in [Detroit] was accountability and the physical part of the game, but now I think he’s figure that out [coaching] with Cooper. Veteran guy for sure. Very structured. Hard worker. A super guy and he knows how to relate to those young players, which is something the Hawks really need.” 

It’s interesting that Chelios mentioned accountability.

I’ve been told by several sources that accountability was a major factor the Hawks were seeking in their new head coach. Let’s hope Blashill learned something under Cooper, as Chelios suggests.

That aside, it doesn’t take much digging before you see why Blashill’s name has emerged as a favorite for the Chicago Blackhawks’ job, especially when considering what’s left on the market.

David Carle chose to remain at the University of Denver. Mike Sullivan predictably took the New York Rangers job as soon as he left Pittsburgh. Michigan State’s Adam Nightingale was a name that emerged last week, but it appears he’s staying in college, as well.

That leaves your retreads like John Tortorella, Peter Laviolette, etc. I’d rather see what a once-hot coaching candidate like Blashill has versus guys like Torts or Laviolette. Perhaps their floor his higher, but we know what their ceiling is at this point.

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Is Blashill the guy, or the guy for now?

As much as I think the Blackhawks will spin a potential Blashill hire as “the guy we wanted,” we know that Carle was their top choice, and as the coaching landscape dried up, it seems like Blashill might be the “A to B” coach, and not the guy who will lead them to glory. Think Doug Collins to Phil Jackson with the Bulls.

Another one of our favorite analysts, Chris Peters of FloHockey, likes what Blashill brings to the table, but has that same question: “I think he’s an extremely smart coach. [He has a] proven track record of players improving under him. [He’s] super detailed and prepared. The question is going to be if he is a guy that gets you to the next step, but may not put you over the top. He didn’t get that chance in Detroit.”

I do think Blashill will get the opportunity to become the championship coach, but if things don’t look like they’re headed that way after two or three years, Kyle Davidson‘s eye might start to wander.

That said, should Davidson be given the chance to hire a third coach?

That will be a tough sell for the fan base, but this hire (if it happens) has to be viewed in the context of what’s available. Davidson can’t force a coach to come to Chicago. He also can’t create great candidates out of whole cloth. That said, if Blashill is the pick and it doesn’t work out, he’ll have to explain why the two guys he chose (Luke Richardson and Blashill) didn’t succeed.

Stay tuned…I’d expect news on this front this week.