Red Wings officially announce Jeff Blashill as new head coach

June 9, 2015May 3, 2016 MiHockey Staff

Ken Holland knew from the start who he wanted behind the Detroit Red Wings’ bench and, on Tuesday morning, he got his man.

Jeff Blashill was officially announced as the 27th head coach in the history of the Detroit Red Wings franchise, succeeding Mike Babcock, at an 11 a.m. press conference at Joe Louis Arena.

“I told Ken a year ago that if Mike were to leave Detroit, that the Red Wing job is the job I wanted most of any in the NHL,” Blashill said.

“Outside of the personal reasons, the most important reason was the great people involved in this organization. But probably most importantly is the players. You can only win at the highest level with great character and great talent. You can’t have one or the other, you have to have both. When you take a job, you’re hoping the group has great character. I don’t have to hope at all. This group that we have here oozes character.”

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Blashill, 41, steps in as the NHL’s second-youngest bench boss behind only recently-hired John Hynes in New Jersey, who is 40. In the Red Wings’ 89-year history, Blashill becomes the first Michigan native to man the bench.

“What took so long?” Blashill said with a laugh. “There’s a lot about this today from a personal standpoint that’s really neat. It’s a neat thing to ultimately be a head coach of an organization that was a big part of your life growing up.

“I was born in Detroit, my dad was a Detroit cop for 10 years, I grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, I was an avid Red Wing fan growing up. It’s a great city that I believe in, it’s a great organization, Original Six.”

Holland said that were no other prospective candidates simply because Blashill was the only one he wanted, citing the importance of internal development.

“I think he’s a tremendous coach. If you can stay internally, I believe in developing people, I believe in developing an organization.

“You watch the players that come up here, how prepared they are for the next level, the attention to detail. As I talk to players that come up, the respect that they have for how Jeff makes the accountable, but at the same time, he’s in their corner. I think it’s a perfect time for Blash to take over our team.”

Blashill coaching at Western Michigan (photo from the MiHockey archives)

Blashill’s rise to the National Hockey League began at the place his playing career ended. Following his fourth and final season as goaltender at Ferris State University in 1998, he took a year off and then joined the Bulldogs’ staff as an assistant coach for the 1999-00 campaign. After a three-year stint in Big Rapids, he took another assistant coaching job at Miami (Ohio) University, where he stayed for six seasons until 2008.

“I think there’s great American coaches our there, I think that’s represented throughout NHL hockey and college hockey,” Blashill said. “I came up through the college hockey ranks, and I take a lot of pride in that. I take pride that I’m standing here today.”

In 2008, Blashill was named head coach and general manager of the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League. In his first season, he guided Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug (Livonia) and the Ice to a Clark Cup. After one more season in Indiana, Blashill headed back to the CCHA to man the Western Michigan Broncos’ bench. There, he took current Red Wings blueliner Danny DeKeyser and the Broncos to the CCHA Championship game in 2011 and earned a berth in the NCAA tournament.

And after one season at Western Michigan, Blashill received the call to take on assistant coaching duties for the Red Wings in a rather monumental leap.

Following a year in Detroit, Blashill didn’t move far for his next gig, as he took over head coaching duties for the Griffins in 2012. His first season in Grand Rapids saw the Griffins capture the Calder Cup for the first time in franchise history. Despite Holland receiving several calls from NHL clubs inquiring about Blashill’s availability at the conclusion of the 2013-14 season, he re-signed with Detroit to stay with the organization through 2016-17.

Blashill standing with Mike Babcock while he was an assistant coach with the Red Wings. (Photo by Dave Reginek/DRW)

In three seasons under Blashill, the Griffins posted eerily consistent records, going 42-26-8 in 2012-13, 46-23-7 in 2013-14 and 46-22-8 in 2014-15, advancing to the second round or farther in the postseason each year.

Now, he returns to Detroit, but as the boss behind the bench this time.

Perhaps one of the most beneficial aspects of the in-house promotion is the fact that Blashill has already coached nearly half the current Red Wings roster in Grand Rapids, as many of the young players have since graduated to the NHL ranks.

“As the players come up over the last two, three years… it comes back to me that the players that play for him and half of them are in Detroit, they have tremendous respect for Jeff, so he has the ingredients that I’m looking for in a coach,” Holland said. “He’s home grown.”

His assistant coaches will have to be decided, as well. Jim Hiller left Detroit to follow Babcock to Toronto. Tony Granato is still a member of the coaching staff, and will be an available option should both parties want to go that route. Holland said a decision on the rest of the coaching staff should be made in a week.