The Chicago Blackhawks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks] hired a new head coach this offseason in Jeff Blashill. He has been a head coach in the NHL for seven years, all with the Detroit Red Wings. Blashill only had one season in which the team finished above .500, and that was his first season as head coach in 2015-16. His coaching record is 204-261-72 and he's finished bottom-3 in the division in five of the seven seasons. He was last a head coach in the NHL in 2021-22, but went over to the Tampa Bay Lightning [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/tampa-bay-lightning] after that. Mikhael Sergachev, a former Lightning defenseman that was in Tampa Bay when Blashill came over as an assistant coach, spoke about a concerning story regarding the coach. He said, "It was hard to pull myself together and play my kind of hockey. I just couldn't. And then we changed our system...The coach from Detroit came in, and I mean we had gone to three straight finals, and this guy comes in and says 'we're not playing like that anymore, we're playing like f*ing Vegas.' And we're all like 'Why?' He goes 'They have a better system. It'll work for us.' Well, it didn't work for me. Didn't work for anyone. Everyone ended up with a negative plus-minus, we were all getting outscored and playing like crap." For a coach that had zero success at the NHL to level to come in as an assistant coach and change something that worked shows some incompetence and arrogance. It is a bit different for him coming into a 31st place team and changing some things like he will likely do with Chicago, but what if it doesn't work? He may very well stick with the same kind of coaching and systems that caused the Red Wings to miss the playoffs for six consecutive seasons under him. There were definitely better options out there that have had more success, but we'll have to see how things play out. With Blashill's history and with this story from Sergachev coming out, there are concerns. Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/chicago-blackhawks/] team site to stay updated on the latest news, game day coverage, player features, and more.
