Jeff Blashill didn’t make the kind of history he was looking for in Detroit.
His seven-year run as a first-time NHL head coach from 2015-22 included presiding over the Red Wings’ third-worst finish by points percentage (.275).
But Chicago Blackhawks great and TNT analyst Eddie Olczyk believes the second time can be the charm for a lot of coaches.
Blashill, hired Thursday as the 42nd head coach in Hawks history, has a chance to join them.
Olczyk noted several who “really did a heck of a job after so-called ‘struggling’ the first time around and then going in (improved) the second time,” he said. “Mike Sullivan is a perfect example, going from Boston and then being assistant for almost 10 years and then getting the job (again) finally in Pittsburgh.”
The Bruins fired Sullivan in 2006 after two seasons, but a decade later he led the Penguins to Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and ’17.
“Craig Berube, no different,” Olczyk continued. “Second job, he’s become one of the top coaches and wins. After being in Philadelphia, he goes and he becomes a Stanley Cup champion in St Louis (in 2019).
“Bruce Cassidy in Washington — rebuild, young team — whatever didn’t have the success, went down and was (out as a head coach for) 12 years, and all of a sudden he gets a chance in Boston. … He gets them to a Cup Final (in 2019). And here he is on his next job and he’s a Stanley Cup champion (with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2023).”
Of course, it’s not always a comeback story.
Over the last 20 years, more coaches (16) have finished with worse records (excluding active coaches) than with improved records (13) in their second-chance campaigns, according to NHL Stats. And the difference in average winning percentage between first (.529) and second (.517) campaigns has been marginal.
During Blashill’s first go-round — he went 204-261-72 with one playoff appearance — there were the added burdens of a Red Wings team falling out of its prime into a rebuild, missing on high draft picks and changing directions at general manager from Ken Holland to Steve Yzerman.
“I think for Blas, it’ll be the confidence of going back in there and having seen this before, whether it’s practice, schedule, handling players a certain way in game — you know, adjustments,” Olczyk said.
Blashill, 51, also has had the benefit of being an assistant on Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper’s staff and learning from his mannerisms on the bench and tendencies as a tactician.
“So he’s way farther ahead now than he was when he went in there as a head coach in Detroit the first time,” Olczyk said. “I just think the experience of having done it, going back and being an assistant and working with somebody like John Cooper will only help his bench skills and the handling of the staff and inside that locker room.”
The reality of it is the Hawks could have a second coming of Scotty Bowman in the building and still face an uphill climb. The Hawks are still very young and play in a brutal Central Division that sent five teams to the playoffs.
Blashill’s top priority will come down to how he helps the likes of Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar and Artyom Levshunov move past promise and develop into difference-makers.
Tyler Bertuzzi believes Blashill’s suited to that task.
The Hawks forward played under Blashill with the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins (partial season) and Red Wings (six seasons) and will be reunited with him this fall.
“I had him coming right out of junior. He was my first coach,” Bertuzzi, 30, said. “He helped me learn a lot from my first year pro all the way up into Detroit … and we’ve been through a lot together on-ice-wise and just going through the kind of rebuild process in Detroit. …
“I think he’s a great coach. I think he’s the right guy for this job with the experience he has, the amount of years he’s coached and all the different leagues, and I’m looking forward to it.”
Both Bertuzzi and Olczyk said Blashill is a likeable person who’s easy to talk to.
Olczyk said that through their 20-year friendship, Blashill has been fun to be around but also conscientious enough to occasionally check in with him about his fight with colon cancer.
“He’s got a quick sense of humor,” Olczyk said. “I told him because he was a goalie back in the day … he obviously thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room.”
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Bertuzzi also has kept in touch with Blashill.
“He’s a very personal guy,” Bertuzzi said. “He wants to know how your family’s doing, he wants to know all the info he can. And sometimes it’s not even talking about hockey, it’s just talking about life stuff, so I think that’s very important.
“That’s what I liked about him the most.”
That’s not to say Blashill won’t hold players accountable or adjust to what his roster needs.
“I think he’s very adaptable (to) the type of team that he has and how he wants to play,” Olczyk said. “He has a great feel for who is playing well in a game.”
He added, having talked to several of Blashill’s former players, “he gives them the information” they need before games.
“It’s very quick. It’s very to the point, and then you have to carry out your responsibility,” Olczyk said.
Bertuzzi seconded that assessment.
“Yeah, that’s what he’s very good at,” he said. “He’s very detailed. He’s very structured in his approach to the game.
“In the quick moments on the ice, when he sees something, he needs to shift something or someone needs to start playing better or play a different way, he catches onto that quickly and he’s good at making those in-game changes.”
While this is a big opportunity for Blashill, “it’s a fresh start for everyone,” Bertuzzi said.
“We’re not going to look at last season,” he said of the Hawks’ second-to-last-place finish. “We’re moving forward and whoever was going to be behind the bench, it’s still a fresh start.
“As a team and as an organization, we need to look ahead and just focus on training camp, then preseason, and then for Game 1, and just forget about what happened (last season) and just move on.
“We need to start getting better and start working.”
