Detroit Red Wings: Roundtable Discussion of Jeff Blashill

BUFFALO, NY - MARCH 29: Head coach Jeff Blashill of the Detroit Red Wings (C) watches the action during an NHL game against the Buffalo Sabres on March 29, 2018 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jeff Blashill
BUFFALO, NY - MARCH 29: Head coach Jeff Blashill of the Detroit Red Wings (C) watches the action during an NHL game against the Buffalo Sabres on March 29, 2018 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Bill Wippert/NHLI via Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Jeff Blashill
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Jeff Blashill has become a running topic of conversation in the City of Detroit, and specifically for Wings fans.  It hasn’t exactly been all kind words lately either in regards to the Detroit Red Wings bench boss.  In this segment, we complete a site round-table to discuss Blashill, his impact, and possible future with the club.

The Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill had significant shoes to fill when he was nominated to be the successor to Mike Babcock; he is still stuffing kleenex into the toe.  The pair were friends; it was documented in one of those corny sit-down segments prior to Babcock zipping down the 401 straight to Toronto to take over the Leafs bench. The pair often shared dinner together to discuss strategy or just talk hockey.

During one of those last-ditched efforts, productions to keep Mike in town he sat with Ken Holland in front of the cameras and everything was kosher.  The two smiled and joked, but any fan could read between the lines, Babs had Toronto on his mind.

Babs knew he had a fresh start looming; he had nearly an open checkbook with a tonne of young talent who would show up to the rink wide-eyed and eager to learn.  He knew he had an opportunity to mold his team the way he wanted too with little to no resistance. SO he left. Take note Matthews fell into his lap; there was no guarantee they were going to win the lottery at the time of Mike’s decision.  Babs did finish down in the bottom his first year in TO.   On his way out the door, he said: “Detroit is in good hands under the guidance of Ken Holland and the newly appointed head coach Jeff Blashill at the reins.”  I mean with all of their dinners, film sessions, etc. The two of them do run a very similar system of hockey. Blashill was looking for an opportunity and Babcock seen the direction of a depleted farm system.

The benefit of this was when Babs needed a specific player to be recalled to replace an injured Wings player, said player could be plugged right into the system and understand what role he was expected to fulfill.

The downfall; We have seen the same system cater to the same types of players for so many years now and with the lack of success in recent years, it is starting to deter many fans.

With Babcock leaving the Detroit Red Wings in a cloud of dust in walked Jeff Blashill.  Now any coach who is about to take over for a great coach will have a large shadow to navigate through.  When you add in the transition of a rebuild and the direction the franchise is headed it becomes a bit foggy.  When you add in the contracts handed out by our general manager to aging veteran stars and the desire to claw with the tips of his fingernails at the edge of a cliff to hold onto the eighth and final playoff spot, the fog becomes dense.  So dense you struggle to see past the tip of your nose.

SO, we ask the fellas their opinion on Jeff Blashill and potentially his future as the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings.  I leave you to ponder one thing while you read the collaboration of thoughts from Octopus Thrower;   Is Jeff Blashill entirely to blame for the current state of the Detroit Red Wings?

(Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images)
(Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Joseph Wooley;

Now in his fourth year with the Detroit Red Wings, Jeff Blashill is the longest-tenured head coach in the city of Detroit. By contrast, the coaches of the other three major teams have a combined one full season and two partial ones. With a historically poor start to the season, his time at the helm might be about finished.
Jeff Blashill did as well as could have been expected in his time with the Detroit Red Wings in what was truly not an enviable position. He inherited a team with a pedigree of making the playoffs, but the evidence of a downward trend was already present when he took over. Despite making the playoffs, the team lost in the first round the final two years with Mike Babcock.

During his career with the Red Wings, Blashill has had to work with an increasingly aging roster while attempting to integrate young players. At this, he has been successful. While there have been frustrations with bringing in veterans in favor of youth, the blame cannot be put solely on Blashill. This dedication to young players was, in part, how he landed the head coach role in the first place. He had shown success in the Red Wings organization, boasting winning seasons in Grand Rapids.

Although he had success in the AHL, it might be time for the Red Wings to move on from Blashill. To get a glimpse of what the organization may do, it may be helpful to look at the Detroit Tigers, incidentally also owned by the Ilitch family. In the past decade, the Tigers went from perennial playoff contenders to the bottom of the standings. To ease the Tigers through this process, (former catcher) Brad Ausmus took over the team, seeing a losing record over four seasons and one disappointing playoff series. Then, just as the team was getting younger and shedding bad contracts, Ausmus was dismissed. If this all sounds familiar, this is because the Red Wings are doing the exact same thing. What does this say about the future of the Wings?

When Ausmus was let go following the 2017 baseball season, he gave way to Ron Gardenhire, longstanding manager of the Minnesota Twins. There, he posted a modest record in twelve seasons, and his teams made several playoff runs with none coming to fruition. Look for the Red Wings to do something similar: find an experienced coach to bridge the gap between losing seasons and playoff contention. A coach who can mold young players into the future of the organization. In fact, before he was immediately picked up by Montreal, Claude Julien would have fit this part perfectly.

Instead, the most logical move is to promote current Red Wings assistant coach Dan Bylsma to the head role. Not only is he already in the system, but he also fits the aforementioned structure the Tigers followed. He has eight years of head coaching experience split between the Penguins and the Sabres. He had moderate success with both teams, even beating the Detroit Red Wings–unfortunately–in the 2009 Stanley Cup finals. Also, he has the added benefit of being familiar with the team. All in all, Bylsma makes sense to take over, should the Red Wings decide to go in that direction. With Blashill’s contract expiring this year, these answers may come sooner rather than later.

(Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
(Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Brian Wallace;

The Detroit Red Wings are in dire straits. The Wings went from being competitive in the first 3 games to being blown out in Boston and Montreal. They have found a few wins sprinkled in since but as a whole, the Detroit on-ice play has been pathetic. At some point, the blame must fall on head coach Jeff Blashill.
107 wins, 112 losses, 39 ties that is good enough to get Jeff Blashill to become the second worst Red Wings coach in history. “We have to be better.” This is what Blashill has said for all of the Detroit games this season. I certainly hope he is placing himself in that we as well.

Years of making the playoffs have taken its toll on the organization. Detroit Red Wings fans need to come to grips with the fact the talent cupboard is nearly bare. Yes, the team has some young talent to build around.

How long will Detroit management stick with a coach who has developed some players? But the team has not netted him many wins. Let me be clear. The Red Wings were not going to be a playoff team this season.

Still part of player development is getting the team to play hard every game. That has not happened. Another tough season was always coming and has arrived, but at what cost? Certainly, some wins and points would be nice in a tough season.

The Detroit Red Wings have allowed 45 goals, before the start of Thursday night’s game.  Not a misprint, 45 goals allowed. They are -15 in goal differential. Blashill still shows up. This is sort of what a rebuild looks like, but rebuilding teams put forth more effort.

Has Jeff Blashill lost the Red Wings? That is the million dollar question. The teams’ uninspired play suggest that he may have.  The Red Wings season may already be over.

Dan Bylsma was brought in as an assistant coach and put in to fix the power play. Bylsma has head coaching experience. In a season going nowhere. Does it make sense to make a coaching change while Blashill is in the final year of his contract or just ride it out?

To be fair, Blashill has not had a full roster to work with. The defense was ravaged by injuries, and key forwards are currently sidelined as well.  Leaving rookies to learn NHL play on the fly, but the losses are getting more lopsided. Players do not like to lose.

If young players do not begin to take steps forward., then removing the head coach must be on the table. Close losses are much easier to take than blowouts. The young players need wins as much as fans do.

There is no easy solution. But “we have to be better” needs to start with the man behind the bench.

(Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
(Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Bob Heyrman;

Sometimes in life, you wish you could reach out and hit a reset button and start over.  I remember playing the old Sega Genesis system and falling behind in a game of NHL 93′ and lunging towards the system and holding down the “reset” button until the game restarted.  I’m sure Jeff Blashill wishes he could hold down a reset button on this season, or the past couple of seasons for that matter.

It is not entirely Jeff Blashill’s fault, let’s get that straight out of the gate here.  Imagine your boss dumping a whole bunch of Ford Tempo parts across your desk or in your workspace and told you to build a Dodge Viper.  It just doesn’t make sense.

Jeff Blashill took over for Mike Babcock and inherited a very good hockey team.  Blashill finished 3rd winning 41 games and recording 93 points.  Jeff hasn’t had an above .500 record since and certainly won’t come close this season.  A lot of times when a franchise goes into a “rebuild” mode the head coach becomes a victim of the circumstance.  The Ilitch family may not be as loyal as they once were with Mike eating at the head of the table but they still decided to give Ken Holland a two-year extension this past summer.  That signaled some loyalty because what has Ken Holland done recently to receive such an extension?

Jeff Blashill hasn’t precisely had top talent to work with since the departure of Pavel Datsyuk.  Now he has lost Henrik Zetterberg who has been replaced with Frans Nielsen or Luke Glendening and at times Jacob de La Rose.  If I am Jeff Blashill, I find a way for my pen to run out of ink after filling out the top two lines of my lineup card.

Ken Holland has often “gifted” Blashill with aging veterans without sprinkling in many top end talented kids.  The desire to keep the 25-year playoff streak alive was a proud feat to accomplish but ended up prolonging the Detroit Red Wings rebuild five or more seasons.  The first round exits were mounting, and the fans were becoming restless.

I refuse to put all of the blame on Jeff Blashill for the downfall of the Detroit Red Wings, but I will put 40% of it on him.  I don’t know and I likely never will know if the idea of playing the aging and grinding type players over the youthful, skillful players was instructions from Holland to Blashill or his decision on his own.

Dylan Larkin has seemed to turn the corner under Jeff Blashill’s watch, and Tyler Bertuzzi has played well for the Detroit Red Wings.  Andreas Athanasiou before his injury was seeing consistent second line ice-time after lobbying for more work this summer.  Dennis Choloswski has been sensational for the Wings in the early going and continues to log north of 20 minutes a night on the Detroit Red Wings back-end. So Jeff Blashill needs credit for these advancements.

I have concerns about the depth players; I understand a player needs to “earn” ice-time.  I just don’t see how as a coach who has been deemed a player developmental coach, playing young talent around 10 minutes a night develops anyone. Although it has been different for AA this year, nearly all of last year Andreas Athanasiou was playing fourth line minutes.  Anthony Mantha has often found himself lost in the darkness of Jeff Blashill’s coaching style.  Martin Frk and Michael Rasmussen are often finding themselves scratched or playing 8 minutes a night.

It isn’t as if they are being overlooked for Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Marian Hossa.  These guys are losing ice to Luke Glendening, Darren Helm, Jacob de La Rose, and Justin Abdelkader.  That is my problem with this situation.

I think Jeff Blashill is paying the price for Ken Holland’s signings.  Holland has the Detroit Red Wings locked into a salary cap penitentiary.  His love of signing bottom end players to lucrative long-term deals with no trade clauses attached makes roster flexibility a challenge.

Jeff Blashill needed to coach up the young players rather than consistently running Jonathan Ericsson, Trevor Daley, and Nick Jensen onto the ice.  Blashill may survive the season as he is entering the final year of his contract.  The stage is set for Michigan native Dan Bylsma to take over the controls behind the bench next season or sooner if the Wings slip into a 10-15 game skid.

(Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images)
(Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Dale Rosenberger;

Jeff Blashill is the ultimate wait-and-see coach in terms of measuring his worth and future to the Detroit Red Wing franchise.

So far as the beginning of this season goes, it has been the NHL career in miniature for coach Jeff Blashill.  After boldly running over lesser competition in the preseason, the Red Wings came out of the gate overmatched into this 2018-19 season, with a string of losses to open such as we hadn’t seen in decades.  With Zetterberg gone, with veteran defensemen injured, where is the leadership we need? We wondered. Jeff Blashill looked weak with his sails waffling in this wind and then that.

The last three games, however, the Red Wings have looked cohesive, systematic, coordinated, motivated, and well-coached.   We begin to wonder–because we want to believe it–maybe now we are finally on to something real regarding charting a path forward for the franchise.  But how will the next ten games go?   My guess is we will cycle back and forth as these questions persist.

How long will this volatility continue?   Have we finally found the right mix of veterans and youth?  Have the players finally bought into the speed-forecheck game their coach preaches?  Can our goalie tandem give the team a chance?  Can hard work compensate for lack of talent or perhaps merely underdeveloped talent?  Is confidence really building in young players or is this an illusion?

Jeff Blashill learned to coach by looking over the shoulder of a master, Mike Babcock.  That is how one learns such a complex craft as coaching, apprenticing under another who has proven success.

But it is not that simple.  Blashill must learn from Babcock without aping him.  Blashill lacks Mike Babcock’s ability or penchant for kicking butt.  Babcock was even abrasive toward the sainted Red Wing players like Henrik Zetterberg.  Blashill is direct, yes.  He communicates, yes.  He has specific ideas for players in terms of their team roles and unique gifts.  Blashill must now find his own way.

For Blashill cannot carry off Mike Babcock’s take no prisoners SOB constant pressure.  Nor should we desire that posture from our head coach, for it quickly wears thin.  If Babcock doesn’t win with the Maple Leafs in the next couple of years, he might lose that team’s respect as he has lost other teams.

Blashill tends to over-depend upon veterans, as Babcock did.  But this is a different era in Red Wings hockey. New occasions teach new duties. The passing of time makes old orthodoxies seem silly or quaint.

We learned with our rash of defensive injuries to open this season why the right mix of veterans and youth is essential.  At the same time, Blashill has been too slow to introduce rookies needing exposure at the top level to grasp how to refine and improve themselves for the NHL’s big show.

We can only hope for more stories like the development of Dylan Larkin in the recent past, Dennis Cholowski in the present, and prospectively Dennis Rasmussen in the future, with his recent spate of goals in last couple games.  If players lag in development similar to the way Athanasiou and Mantha have lagged, that will spell trouble for Jeff Blashill.

How long does Blashill have with suspended judgment before a clear upward arc in the fate of the franchise becomes evident?  The end of this season is a hard stop on that deadline.  He deserves the patience he has enjoyed so far from the Ilitches.  But the NHL is finally about winning, and no coach is exempt from that mandate.

(Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images)
(Photo by Dave Sandford/NHLI via Getty Images) /

The Conclusion;

The jury is nearly finished deliberating on the case of Jeff Blashill vs. The Detroit Red Wings faithful.  We all assume the “second” hand on the clock is striking at a vigorous pace for Jeff Blashill.

Ken Holland may mention the negativity towards him, and his Detroit Red Wings does not bother him.  He may not have much trouble sleeping at night but his nights became quite restless once Steve Yzerman stepped down as General Manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Yzerman felt he couldn’t be as committed to his role in Tampa as he should be moving forward.  His family remained in the Detroit area, and the travel for work and his personal life became much too taxing.

Yzerman will finish out the final year of his contract working more from Detroit as a senior advisor in the Tampa organization.  Well, that led to much speculation on the next opportunity of employment for Steve Yzerman.  There is nothing more that Detroit Red Wings fans could ever want than the “Captain” steering the ship of the franchise.

What does this have to do with Jeff Blashill?  Well, it is the trickle-down effect.  Ken Holland should see the writing on the wall and could quite possibly make a last-ditched effort to retain his job by sending Jeff Blashill packing if things get ugly.

More from Octopus Thrower

People may not think franchise owners listen to the backlash, but in all honesty, they do.  If the pitchforks and torches from the fans come out, ownership will hear every word.  Ken Holland knows that Steve Yzerman is lingering.

Dan Bylsma will indeed likely be the immediate replacement but if this ends up being Ken Holland’s final season and Yzerman does “take” the job.  I say take because it is his if he wants it.  Keep an eye on Ken Hitchcock.  Hitch retired and was most recently with the Dallas Stars. He has a history of working with Stevie with Hockey Canada.  Hitch is similar to what Joseph mentioned earlier; he could be the Ron Gardenhire type figure to help the young players grow.

Another name that seems so far-fetched is Joel Quenneville.  He is a coach who can write his own contract almost anywhere he desires throughout the league.  The Windsor, Ontario native has had a little friction with the Chicago Blackhawks over the last couple of seasons regarding player personnel decisions.  If the Blackhawks fail to make the playoffs again this season the two parties could decide to part ways.  Similar to Hitchcock, Quenneville has ties to Yzerman with Hockey Canada.

Next. Top 5 Coaches In Wings’ History. dark

Jeff Blashill will NOT be the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings in 2019/20.  If the Wings have a new General Manager to start next season, the head coaching candidates will become endless.

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