Allen: Red Wings' Jeff Blashill is early leader for Jack Adams

Kevin Allen | USA TODAY Sports

John Hynes has already received plenty of early attention as a possible Jack Adams Award winner for his work with the New Jersey Devils.

Montreal Canadiens coach Michel Therrien also has to be on that list, along with Dallas Stars coach Lindy Ruff. The Washington Capitals’ Barry Trotz also should to be among the favorites for coach of the year. The class of deserving candidates is large.

But my pick goes to Detroit Red Wings first-year coach Jeff Blashill.

Blashill’s first NHL head coaching job comes with overflowing pressure, and somehow he has managed to guide the Red Wings to the seventh-best record at 14-8-4.

Usually, first-year coaches face minimal pressure because they have inherited a struggling team. Blashill’s situation is far different. He faces major expectations because he replaced Mike Babcock, the highest-profile coach in the game. Babcock left town with a .649 winning percentage over 10 seasons. Blashill is replacing a guy who was given $50 million to take his act to Toronto.

As if that wasn’t challenging enough, Blashill inherits a playoff qualification streak that has lasted 24 years. Talk about pressure.

Some may argue that Blashill was stepping into a desirable situation, but sports fans in Detroit understand that taking over a good team doesn’t guarantee success for a first-year head coach.

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Everything was supposed to be fine because Detroit was a quality team when popular Dave Lewis succeeded Scotty Bowman in 2002. We know how that worked out. That’s how Babcock ended up in Detroit.

When Jim Leyland retired from managing Detroit Tigers, the team was talented enough that fans believed that Brad Ausmus would be able to keep the competitive fires burning. But that transition hasn’t been smooth either.

Even though Blashill had been groomed by the Red Wings to be their head coach, Detroit fans still wanted to see proof that Blashill could be as effective as Babcock.

If the Red Wings were struggling, the buzz would be strong about how the Red Wings should have found a way to keep Babcock. The season is still young, but Blashill has delivered in the face of unrelenting pressure. Perhaps some coaches are accomplishing as much as Blashill has thus far, but none of them have conquered a bigger challenge than he has.