Detroit Red Wings parting ways with head coach Jeff Blashill

The Detroit Red Wings have officially ended their season. They finished 32-40-10 on the season after their recent victory against the New Jersey Devils. While they were not above .500 and did not sniff the playoffs as myself and others thought they might, there were some highlights.

Ahead of the end of the season press conference, Detroit Red Wings General Manager (GM) Steve Yzerman opted to announce the future of this organization. He stated that head coach Jeff Blashill will not be returning to coach the team for the 2022-23 season.

It was also noted that assistant coach Doug Houda and goaltending coach Jeff Salajko will also be parting ways with the organization. Yzerman expected more information on Monday in the previously mentioned press conference, but the news is out after the Red Wings statement.

Heading into the 2021-22 season, the Red Wings opted to bring back Blashill. It was just under a year ago that Yzerman announced the team’s coach for this past season, but now he’s making a much different announcement. The search for a new head coach begins now.

The Detroit Red Wings are parting ways with head coach Jeff Blashill.

After spending the last seven seasons serving as the Red Wings, his tenure with the organization has been a lengthy one. He has coached himself to a first-year playoff run which ended in a first-round loss. Since then, it was a lot of seventh and eighth place in the division finishes.

He’s a career 204-261-72 in his career as a bench boss, which is good for a .447% win percentage. There was some assumption that during a rebuild, the number of wings was not going to be the highest.

But, in 2021-22, there was some assumption that the Red Wings were going to be better, but things did not get to the level that many were hoping they would. Blashill’s performance was questionable at times, and Yzerman opted to move on.

That being said, the Red Wings are going to have to target a new coach. The options are far from being narrowed down as the news is still fresh. But, the early indications are that the team could be targeting a number of coaching options.

With coaches like Lane Lambert, Paul Maurice, and John Tortorella being rumored as options, Yzerman should have a quality number of possibilities. Time will tell, but it will be a long offseason of trying to narrow down a new coach.