On Thursday, the Chicago Blackhawks officially announced the hiring of Jeff Blashill, following weeks of speculation. He is the 42nd head coach in franchise history.
At every stop, whether in the NHL, AHL, or development leagues across North America, he has consistently achieved success with young talent. Right now, the Blackhawks have plenty of young players at the NHL level who must take the next step soon.
At the top of the list is 2023 number one overall pick Connor Bedard. He is the face of the franchise, their current best player, and the one with the most natural gifts.
Behind him is Frank Nazar, who has been the team's second-most-impactful forward in the last six months. He may even be able to claim that he was the best player on the team in the second half of the season.
Beyond those two and a handful of others, they lack depth up front, but that is sure to be addressed in free agency and the 2025 NHL Draft.
On defense, studs like Artyom Levshunov, Alex Vlasic, and Sam Rinzel are ready to be difference makers. Other guys like Ethan Del Mastro, Nolan Allan, and Louis Crevier will be battling for spots in the lineup. With Spencer Knight in goal, this is an organization doing a great job building from the net out.
With his experience in the NCAA, USHL, and AHL, Jeff Blashill must help all of these young men become great. More than that, he needs to help them become winners.
Although his success in other leagues is well-documented, he didn't achieve as much in the NHL. He made the playoffs in his first Detroit Red Wings season, but the wheels fell off after that. Guys like Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Johan Franzen, amongst others, started to age out. After that, a rebuild was needed. Not many coaches would have yielded a ton of wins in that situation.
He did help oversee the development of players like Dylan Larkin and Moritz Seider while he was there, which is a plus on his resume. Before the NHL, his development plan for players has seen a lot of success both individually and as a team.
Making the playoffs or competing for the Stanley Cup isn't on Blashill's immediate agenda. However, he must come in and see results from the young players in terms of production. His objective is to have everyone do their job and what they're best at.
With all of the talent that will be at Blashill's fingertips, he must find a way to help them level up in the rebuild. Kyle Davidson was clear that this hire revolved around that theory.
“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,” Davidson said. “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.”
Davidson believes that Blashill's experience with young players is what made him the clear final choice. After David Carle, who is incredibly successful with young players in his own right, decided to stay at the University of Denver, Blashill became a great option.
It is also nice that he has some NHL head coaching experience to go with all of that developmental history. He breaks a streak of four straight coaches that Chicago has had with no history behind the bench of an NHL team as the decision maker.
It's a heavy burden for Blashill to take on, but lots of coaches have proven to be successful in their second jobs. Chicago is very excited about the prospect farm that they have put together, and it's only going to get better with the third overall pick. Blashill could become a significant part of their present and future right away if he shows progress immediately.
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