Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

Jeff Salajko's teaching methods appealed, as did his history within the organization.

The Detroit Red Wings made Salajko's promotion to goaltending coach official today. He spent the past three seasons as the goalie coach with the Grand Rapids Griffins, where he mentored Petr Mrazek and worked for two years next to Wings coach Jeff Blashill. The Griffins were ousted from the second round of the AHL playoffs Monday, clearing the way for the announcement a little more than a week after the Wings let go of former goaltending coach Jimmy Bedard after nearly two decades.

"I made the decision to hire Sal based on my belief in Sal, and my knowledge of how he teaches," Blashill said. "Jeff and I had an opportunity in Grand Rapids to work together, and he has similar beliefs in terms of how to train goaltenders and their habits and using simple drills to create great habits to play without thinking."

Salajko, 41, joined the organization in 2013-14, one year into Mrazek's career with the Griffins. Salajko further has familiarity with Jared Coreau, who is next on the goaltending depth chart. Salajko has been a part of Wings training camp for three years, so he knows veteran Jimmy Howard, too, although Howard likely is to be traded this summer because, otherwise, the Wings would have around $10 million allotted to goaltending after Mrazek is re-signed.

Having first-hand knowledge of the players in the organization "allows Sal to hit the ground running," Blashill said. "He's been to camp and worked with all our goalies, and his knowledge of them and their knowledge of him will allow for a quicker transition."

The change comes a week after the Wings announced the hiring of Doug Houda as the new assistant coach in charge of the defense and penalty killing. A new bench assistant for the forwards and power play has yet to be hired. "We are still going through the discovery process, reaching out to people," Blashill said. "I have no timeline, other than to find the right person to maximize our coaching staff."

Salajko's promotion reflects that the Wings are committed to Mrazek as their goalie of the future. He had a turbulent finish to his season -- in mid-February, he had generated a .933 save percentage and 1.94 goals-against average that both ranked first among NHL goaltenders who had played at least 25 games. Then came one shaky outing after another, enough so that he lost the starting job by the playoffs. Mrazek returned two games into the first-round series against Tampa Bay.

Bringing in Salajko is part of the plan to getting Mrazek back to peak performance.

"I have been with Petr a long time, and I believe consistency is not an issue," Blashill said. "I've got a larger sample size than one season. Petr has special qualities: a short memory, very competitive, loves the moment. There is room for improvement on the technical side and, as you improve your technical acumen, it allows you to get it back as quickly as possible."

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Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.