It appears that the Chicago Blackhawks made a mistake in a completed transaction moments ago
Photo credit: Sportsnet
Kyle Davidson hired Jeff Blashill as the new Chicago Blackhawks head coach, but his tenure with the Detroit Red Wings has us worried he made the wrong choice.
Jeff Blashill was named the 42nd coach in Chicago Blackhawks history. He takes the reins from Anders Sorensen, who, as an interim coach, oversaw the team from December until the end of the season.
While Kyle Davidson feels confident about his abilities as a head coach, in addition to his developmental capabilities, we're not sold just yet.
"Jeff is an incredibly smart and talented coach who boasts more than 25 years of coaching experience across developmental leagues, the NHL and the world stage," Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson said.
It's true he did win a Calder Cup in June 2013. But that seems to be the only taste of true success he's had as a Head Coach in a professional hockey setting.
You can hear Davidson glowing as he's saying this:
"He's thrived when in a position to develop young players and has shown he's capable of blending that into overall team success, a vision and philosophy we share for where we are today and where we see our team in the future. We couldn't be more excited for what's to come under Jeff's direction."
Though his story with the Detroit Red Wings says otherwise.
Blashill spent seven seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and made it to the playoffs only once. Afterwards, he's been a consistent disappointment for fans of the winged wheel.
His record suggests (204-261-72) he's not the one to pull this team out of a rebuild, with a (.447) winning percentage.
While he's been given credit for helping develop Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, and Dylan Larkin. It could be the exact reason he was hired, in order to help the Blackhawks prospects like Sam Rinzel, Oliver Moore, and Frank Nazar develop into full-time NHLers.
Fans weren't so confident in his hire, considering the fact that they just went through a season where the team finished 8th in the Central, and a record of 25-46-11. Fans want to see a winning team, and we're not sure we disagree with that sentiment.
There were arguably better coaches available, including Jay Woodcroft and Gerard Gallant, who have winning records.
Instead, it seems like Kyle Davidson is traipsing down the same path we've seen before with Blashill. It just depends on how well Blashill will do after serving under Jon Cooper in Tampa Bay for the past three seasons.
What lessons did he learn from Cooper regarding development and putting together a winning team?
We hope this isn't another tank job in order to secure a 1st overall in 2026 to draft the Medicine Hat Tigers, Gavin McKenna.
| POLL | ||
MAI 25 | 272 ANSWERS It appears that the Chicago Blackhawks made a mistake in a completed transaction moments ago Do you think Head Coach Jeff Blashill is the one to lead the Chicago Blackhawks out of the next phase of the rebuild? | ||
| Yes | 110 | 40.4 % |
| No | 162 | 59.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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