The Chicago Blackhawks have found their man.
Former Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, who spent the last three seasons as an assistant on Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper’s staff, has been named the 42nd head coach in Hawks history.
“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,” general manager Kyle Davidson said in a team 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.”
Blashill, 51, will take over from interim coach Anders Sörensen, who will remain with the organization. Sörensen replaced Luke Richardson, who was fired Dec. 5.
While Blashill was on Cooper’s staff, the Lightning made first-round playoff exits in each of the last three seasons.
Blashill got his start in coaching in 1999 as a college assistant at Ferris State and then at Miami (Ohio) from 2002-08.
His first head coaching job was with the USHL’s Indiana Ice, who won the 2008-09 championship. Two seasons later he became head coach at Western Michigan.
He joined Mike Babcock’s Detroit Red Wings staff as an assistant in 2011, then spent three seasons as head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate, winning a title in his first season and making the playoffs all three years.
He was named head coach of the Red Wings in 2015. They made the playoffs in his first season but finished short of the postseason the next six years before general manager Steve Yzerman fired Blashill in April 2022. He compiled a 204-261-72 record in 537 games.
A Detroit native and former goalie at Ferris State and in the USHL, Blashill and wife Erica have three children: Teddy, Josie and Owen.