Chicago – Jeff Blashill was 41 when he replaced Mike Babcock with the Detroit Red Wings in 2015.
A decade later, long after he was dumped by the Red Wings, he has a second chance to prove himself as a head coach in the NHL.
The Chicago Blackhawks think he is ready.
Blashill was introduced Tuesday as the 42nd coach in franchise history, taking over a Blackhawks team looking to transition out of a painful rebuilding project. He brings along extensive experience at multiple levels, from the college ranks to his time with Detroit and the past 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.
“For me, this job at this moment with this team was the exact job that I wanted,” Blashill said.
Blashill is replacing Sorensen, who served as the interim coach after Richardson was fired in December. Sorensen, 50, is staying on as an assistant, and Blashill also is keeping goaltending coach Jimmy Waite. Former NHL forward Michael Peca is joining the organization as an assistant.
“I’ve known Anders for a long, long time,” Blashill said. “I have tons of belief in him as a coach and person. I think he’s a great fit to help guide our young players. He has relationships with a number of guys, which I think is important because it keeps some continuity on the staff.”
Blashill, a 51-year-old Michigan native, coached Detroit to the playoffs in his first season in 2015-16. But that was the high point of his tenure with the franchise.
With the Red Wings going with a youth movement, Blashill finished with a 204-261-72 record in seven seasons in charge. He was let go after the team went 32-40-10 during the 2021-22 season.
“There’s certainly times as you go through that that you can over-search for answers, that you can maybe change a system when maybe that’s not what needs to be done,” said Blashill, looking back on his time with Detroit. “And sometimes you just have to stay calm, believe in the process and stay the course.”
General manager Kyle Davidson said throughout the team’s coaching search that NHL experience wasn’t any sort of prerequisite. But the way Blashill talked about his Red Wings tenure during the interview process strengthened his case for the Blackhawks job.
“Getting in the room and learning about him and learning how he was going to approach this job I think that time in Detroit as an NHL head coach certainly set him up for approaching this a different way,” Davidson said.
Blashill, a former college goaltender for Ferris State, faces a daunting task with a Chicago team that might be further along with its rebuild than what he had in Detroit, but still has a long way to go.
The Blackhawks went 25-46-11 this past season, finishing last in the Central Division and No. 31 overall in the NHL for the second straight season. 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.
Artyom Levshunov, Colton Dach, Sam Rinzel, Oliver Moore and Ryan Greene each made their NHL debut this past season, ramping up hope for the future. Connor Bedard, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft, is going into his third season, and the continued development of the 19-year-old center might be the most important task for the team’s new coach.
“First of all, I think Connor’s going to get to another level,” Blashill said. “I don’t think there’s any question because, like other superstars in this league, he has the drive and want to be the very, very best he can be. There’s zero doubt of the ability that he has. … Working toward Connor’s strengths will be important.”
Oilers take 3-1 series lead on Stars
Edmonton, Alberta – Corey Perry scored the tiebreaking goal on a power play in the second period and Stuart Skinner made 28 saves as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 Tuesday night to take a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.
Perry finished with a goal and an assist, Leon Draisaitl also scored with a man advantage and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added two assists for Edmonton, which can advance to the Stanley Cup Final with a victory over the Stars in Game 5 on Thursday night, when the best-of-seven series returns to Dallas.
Jason Robertson scored on a power play in the second period for Dallas. Jake Oettinger finished with 29 saves.
Kasperi Kapanen and Adam Henrique added empty-net goals in the final three minutes to help secure the win for Edmonton.
Zach Hyman, who scored twice in Game 3, left after a first-period hit by Mason Marchment and did not return.
Hurricanes get another shot at Panthers
Raleigh, N.C. – It’s one win in a series otherwise going resoundingly against them. The Carolina Hurricanes still face a long and improbable climb ahead against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
For now the reward from Monday’s sweep-averting road win is simply another chance to play at home in Wednesday night’s Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final.
“I don’t really think (mentality) changes if you’re up three or down three,” coach Rod Brind’Amour said Tuesday. “Like, what, are you going to try harder? Everybody’s trying their hardest and everybody wants to win that next game.”
Carolina’s 3-0 win Monday night staved off elimination while ending a nasty conference-final losing streak (15 games dating to 2009). But playing on means keeping fleeting hope alive, even against a tested and deep champion.
Florida swept Carolina in the 2023 Eastern final with four one-goal wins that gave the Hurricanes reason to feel they were in it the whole way. This had been anything but, starting with the 5-2 loss in Game 1 followed by a 5-0 romp that drew frustrated chants from a rowdy-turned-despondent home crowd.
In Saturday’s Game 3, Florida turned a 1-1 game entering the third into a 6-2 win that moved them within a win of the Cup final.
Getting to closeout opportunities is not new for the Panthers, who won nine of their first 10 series under Paul Maurice.
Also not new: letting the first chance (or three, in one case) at that closeout win slip away. Monday’s loss dropped Florida’s record in potential closeout games since the start of the 2023 playoffs to just 9-8.
It begged this question of Maurice: Do the Panthers learn from those missed chances?
“I don’t believe in it. I don’t believe in that idea at all,” Maurice said. “If it was just a learned thing, you’d be 16-0 every year. It’s just not real. We had won seven of eight playoff games going into (Monday) night. … They were better at their game than we were at our game. We’ve managed to not have that happen very often.”
That said, he is a big believer in learning. The tape Tuesday showed there was much to learn coming out of Game 4, and players knew lessons were coming.
That’s how the day went, and then it was off to the plane. Simple.
“The first four or five minutes I would call them names. I’m mindful of the hotline now so the names aren’t nearly as good as they used to be,” Maurice said. “Then I show them the video that attaches them to the names that I’ve called them, and then we’re going to do a bunch of video on something technical about where we’ve got to be better, where we can be better, so we can see it.”
(Lengthy) injury report
Florida’s Sam Reinhart, Niko Mikkola and A.J. Greer all missed Game 4 with injuries; all skated Tuesday and are expected to skate again Wednesday morning before determinations are made for Game 5.
Reinhart left Thursday’s Game 2 in the first period after a low hit by Carolina’s Sebastian Aho. Greer appeared to injure himself delivering a hit on Jordan Staal in Game 3, while Mikkola was shaken up after crashing hard into the boards – his right shoulder hitting first – that same night.
Carolina, meanwhile, started the series with defenseman Jalen Chatfield sidelined, while Sean Walker has missed the past two games since taking a jarring open-ice hit from Greer in Game 2. That’s left the Hurricanes without two of their top six blue-liners.
Young legs
There’s been at least one promising development for Carolina in the play of its youngsters, forward Logan Stankoven and defenseman Alexander Nikishin.
The 22-year-old Stankoven, the primary return in the Hurricanes’ deadline-deal pivot out of the Mikko Rantanen business, has scored in two straight games and is tied for second on the team with five playoff goals.
His Game 4 winner came off a nifty feed from the 23-year-old Nikishin, marking the first NHL point for a top blue-line prospect pressed into three playoff games for his first NHL action due to Carolina’s blue-line injuries.
Road vs. home success
Florida has seven road playoff wins, the past four coming by a combined score of 22-4 going back to matching 6-1 wins in Games 5 and 7 of the second-round series against Toronto.
Carolina had 31 home regular-season wins to tie the Los Angeles Kings for most in the league, then went 5-0 in two playoff rounds.
Staying alive
Carolina is 6-6 under Brind’Amour when facing elimination. That includes two wins last year after falling behind 3-0 against the New York Rangers in a six-game second-round series.
Conference Finals scheduleEastern ConferenceCarolina vs. Florida
(Panthers lead 3-1)
▶ Game 1: Florida 5-2
▶ Game 2: Florida 5-0
▶ Game 3: Florida 6-2
▶ Game 4: Carolina 3-0
▶ Game 5: Wednesday, May 28 at Carolina, 8
▶ x-Game 6: Friday, May 30 at Florida, TBA
▶ x-Game 7: Sunday, June 1 at Carolina, TBA
Western ConferenceDallas vs. Edmonton
(Oilers lead 3-1)
▶ Game 1: Dallas 6-3
▶ Game 2: Edmonton 3-0
▶ Game 3: Edmonton 6-1
▶ Game 4: Edmonton 4-1
▶ Game 5: Thursday, May 29 at Dallas, 8
▶ x-Game 6: Saturday, May 31 at Edmonton, TBA
▶ x-Game 7: Monday, June 2 at Dallas, TBA
x-If necessary
Want to comment on this story? Become a subscriber today. Click here.