Detroit Red Wings Preview: The Many Faces of Jeff Blashill

Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill makes some of the best faces when he’s answering questions. He’s gotten even more skilled answering the question without really answering it–like the first one here with Fox Sports’ Detroit’s John Keating:

I like how he hides the full out grin, just a subtle little smile through the questioning and then the first part of the answer. He’s not laughing at Keating, but you have to figure that after being asked the same questions day in and day out, the humor of the situation is how to keep the answers fresh without sounding annoyed or aggravated. Or better yet–providing a long answer and then letting the media or fans decipher it. You know–like earlier in the week with Anthony Mantha.

No wonder it’s a half smile.

What isn’t funny is guessing which Red Wings team will show up tonight. The usual issues are there: Lackluster power play, lack of secondary scoring, struggling penalty kill. But there’s this:

Face-off percentage will get a nice uptick as LGD is winning 66% of his faceoffs this year. Meanwhile, Darren Helm will be out so that seems to be who Glendening will be slotting in for.

More interesting will be whether both Givani Smith and Matthias Brome see action or if Valtteri Filppula finds his way back into the lineup. Smith struggled a bit Thursday while Brome was unable to clear the puck, leading to Nashville’s game winning goal.  Mistakes will be made, and it’s one you chalk up and move on from. Blashill was actually complimentary about Brome’s play in his comments Friday.

One other name to watch: Taro Hirose. Will he get another shot in the lineup? He’s back with the taxi squad  and for a team starved for offense, it seems beneficial to have him in there rather than–oh I don’t know–Frans Nielsen–last seen trying to chase down Matt Duchene.

Face off is at 8 pm Eastern.