Detroit Red Wings Jeff Blashill: Pros and Cons in his First Year

Everyone in Detroit must be wondering what’s with this Blashill guy, is he really going to be all that everyone has hyped him up to be, is he the next great Detroit Red Wings coach to make history? Personally, I think yes. People don’t want an opinion though, they want straightforward answers. Let’s take a look at what Jeff Blashill is all about.

Pros

He’s a native Michigander. He knows the city and has the same mentality as most people from Michigan. He understands we are a hard working state and fight until the end. Hopefully he can pound that into the heads of the players.

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Blashill is a winner. Everywhere he has come out of has won some type of title. In 2011, he led the Western Michigan University Broncos hockey team to a a top-four finish in the CCHA, the CCHA Championship game, and the 2011 NCAA Division I Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament. In 2013, he led the Grand Rapids Griffins to win the Calder Cup for the first time in franchise history. Now it’s the 2015-16 season, I think it’s time for a Stanley Cup to come back home to Detroit and Blashill may be the answer to our prayers–at least in the next few years.

Things happen– therefore a coach needs to be on his toes to prepare for the worst case scenario. He needs to make sure the team is at tip top shape to perform and is able to make difficult choices when he is pushed into the corner. Blashill has had to deal with an inconsistent team–one that suffered from an up and down play and also tons of injuries.

Cons

Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Blashill and Babcock have similar coaching styles and I think this may be a downfall for the team in the future because change is good. Maybe we need a new system and that was the root of the problem of why we couldn’t win the cup or further our run in the playoffs in recent years. Other teams figured out how we ran our team and how we played our game. They used that to their advantage and will again in the future if changes for the better can’t be made.

He is also the second youngest coach of the NHL. This could be to our advantage or a downfall. He’s young, and he coached the AHL team but the NHL is the “men’s league.” This season we’ll find out if this team needs a veteran coach or if Blashill is the right pick for this team. While he’s won many titles, it hasn’t been at the highest level of hockey.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I feel that the pros outweigh the cons and he will live up to everyone’s expectation of fitting well with this team since he has coached many of these players before. Blashill looks like the real deal, and let’s face it, he’s prepared for the moment. If there’s any comparison you can make, it’s to Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper. Cooper worked his way through the ranks, was successful at the AHL level, and then took over a Tampa team that needed a strong coach. After getting swept in the 2014 playoffs, the Lightning advanced to the Cup Final and lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games.

Will Blashill find similar success? While we all hope so, I think that hope isn’t giving him enough credit. Blash is absolutely the right coach for this team.

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Pros

Cons

Final Thoughts

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