The Chicago Blackhawks have hired Tampa Bay Lightning assistant Jeff Blashill as their new head coach.
Blashill, 51, spent the past three seasons as an assistant with the Lightning. Before that, he spent seven seasons as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings from 2015-22.
"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 general manager Kyle Davidson said in a statement. "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."
In his three seasons in Tampa Bay, the Lightning went 138-86-22, making the playoffs all three years. In his seven seasons in Detroit, the Red Wings went 204-261-72, making the playoffs in his first season before undergoing a long rebuild effort.
While Blashill had an underwhelming stay with Detroit, finishing with a 204-261-72 record, he has a player development background that likely was appealing for the rebuilding Blackhawks. He has coached in the AHL and USHL, along with the college ranks.
Blashill, a former college goaltender for Ferris State, spent the last three seasons as an assistant to Jon Cooper with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The previous four coaches for Chicago — Anders Sorensen, Luke Richardson, Derek King and Jeremy Colliton — had never been a head coach in the NHL when they got the job with the Blackhawks.
Chicago went 25-46-11 this year, finishing last in the Central Division and No. 31 in the NHL for the second straight season.
Davidson fired Richardson in December, and Sorensen was promoted from the minors to serve as the team's interim coach for the rest of the season.
Sorensen was a candidate for the full-time job, but he is expected to remain with the franchise in some capacity.
"We love Anders," Davidson said at the team's end-of-season media availability in April. "He's been part of the organization for some time. He's a great hockey mind, he's a great person and those are the type of people we want in our organization."
Blashill inherits a team with the makings of what looks like a good young nucleus, led by Connor Bedard. It has two first-round selections in each of the next two drafts, to go along with salary-cap flexibility for free agency.
Artyom Levshunov, Colton Dach, Sam Rinzel, Oliver Moore and Ryan Greene each made their NHL debut this year, ramping up hope for the future.
But the Blackhawks averaged just 2.73 goals this season and allowed 3.56 goals per game, 31st in the NHL behind only San Jose. The team has made just one postseason appearance since 2017, and that was the expanded playoff format after the 2020 season was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Blashill steps into his new job amid preparations for the franchise's centennial 2025-26 season.
Todd Feurer
Todd Feurer is a web producer for CBS Chicago. He has previously written for WBBM Newsradio, WUIS-FM and the New City News Service.