CHICAGO — There’s one thing everyone wants to know from Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill, who was named the 42nd head coach in franchise history last week and officially introduced by the team on Tuesday.
When will the Blackhawks get back to the playoffs?
Pat Tomasulo asked Blashill the “P” question when the new Blackhawks head coach stopped by the studio Wednesday to introduce himself on the WGN Morning News.
With a laugh, Blashill said it’s a question he’s been asked more than a few times already. Really, he can only give one answer.
“I won’t put a timeline on that, but excited for the opportunity, excited for the group I get a chance to coach,” Blashill responded to Tomasulo. “Honestly, just ready to go to work.”
Pardon Blackhawks fans if they’re a tad eager to get back to — and win series again — in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which is in the conference semifinal stages right now and has been minus Chicago’s franchise for the last five seasons.
After a golden age in which they won three Stanley Cup titles in six seasons from 2009-15, the Blackhawks have made the playoffs just once over the last eight seasons and have not advanced past the first round since raising that third Stanley Cup in 2015.
They’ve missed the playoffs five straight seasons, finishing no higher than sixth place in the Western Conference’s eight-team Central Division during that time, including three consecutive last-place finishes.
The Blackhawks continued their run near the bottom of the NHL in 2024-25, firing head coach Luke Richardson in December during his third season behind the bench. Anders Sorensen was elevated to interim head coach for the rest of the campaign, one the Blackhawks finished at 25-46-11, the second-worst record in the NHL.
Blashill, a Detroit native, was the head coach of his hometown Red Wings for seven seasons from 2015-22 and then spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
So he has plenty of NHL experience, and he told the Morning News his first order of business with his new team is building relationships.
“It’s no different than parenting, no different than a marriage,” Blashill said. “If you develop strong relationships, you can kind of withstand those moments when it gets hard.”
Make no mistake: The Blackhawks are still very young, and they’re still very much in the rebuilding process. That’s why there’s really no concrete timeline on when they may be back in the playoffs.
But their pool of young talent is deep and promising, led by center Connor Bedard, who’s already played two NHL seasons but doesn’t turn 20 until July.
For these reasons and more, Blashill said the Blackhawks’ head coaching job was coveted when it opened up.
“Are we young? Yes. But there’s a lot of talent in that group, and you love the opportunity to coach that type of talent that we have coming up,” he said.
“… It definitely became kind of a perfect fit for me, and I’m a Midwestern guy, so the opportunity to come here to Chicago, a city I’ve been to numerous times in my life and visited numerous times — really excited about it.”
See the attached video player to watch Blashill’s full Morning News appearance.