Jeff Blashill

Jeff Blashill is preparing for his second season as the Red Wings head coach.

(AP File Photo)

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. - If there's any extra pressure on Jeff Blashill entering his second season as head of the Detroit Red Wings, he isn't feeling it.

Blashill, who led the Red Wings to their 25th consecutive playoff berth last season before a third straight first-round exit, says there's no more pressure on him now than there was last year when he was promoted after spending three seasons as coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins.

"It's the same thing I got asked last year," Blashill said Friday before the Red Wings development camp scrimmage at Center I.C.E. Arena. "I think there's always pressure in this job and there always will be and I welcomed that when I took the job.

"But really, I don't spend lots of time worrying about what could happen bad. I spend all my time worrying about how we're going to do things to make sure we win."

Blashill is optimistic he'll have a better opportunity to do that after the Red Wings signed free agents Frans Nielsen, Thomas Vanek and Steve Ott last week.

The Red Wings struggled to score goals for much of last season, when they finished third in the Atlantic Division with a 41-30-11 record, and Blashill expects Nielsen and Vanek to help them put the puck in the net more often.

Nielsen averaged almost 20 goals for the New York Islanders the past three seasons and although Vanek has averaged 21 goals the past four seasons, he was one of the NHL's most dangerous goal scorers early in his career, when he averaged 35 during a seven-year stretch.

"Frans Nielsen was somebody that we thought was real important, losing Pavel (Datsyuk), to get a real quality centerman," Blashill said. "He's somebody that when I talk to the opposing coaches that they played against in the playoffs, they thought he did a great job against them. So that was, I thought, important.

"We thought Thomas Vanek - I've known him since he was in the USHL and watched him in college and know guys who have coached him - he's got a lot of talent, he's a big body that can score goals, he's a right shot. So there could be a real good fit there.

"Steve Ott ... I just thought his energy level is awesome. He's going to bring accountability and energy to our locker room, which I think you can never have enough of that and he obviously brings a certain style of play that can be real beneficial for us."

Before signing Nielsen, Vanek and Ott, the Red Wings also locked up two of their own unrestricted free agents - Darren Helm and Alexey Marchenko.

Although the Helm signing wasn't popular with many Red Wings fans, Blashill thinks the speedy forward is a valuable piece of the proverbial puzzle after he averaged 13 goals the past three seasons while filling a variety of roles.

"I thought the re-signing of Darren Helm was as important as any of them," Blashill said. "We really wanted Darren back. He brings great speed, great tenacity. He's a winner. He's the type of player I think you can win with.

"He can play on the power play, kill penalties, play up and down your lineup. So I was excited that we were able to sign him. "

With the three newcomers coming in and Datsyuk gone to Russia, the Red Wings forward lines are obviously going to look a bit different next season.

Nielsen is going to center the second line but exactly who plays with who isn't something Blashill is ready to reveal yet.

"You know, I've thought lots about it but until we get closer and see where everything shakes out, I'm not going to talk too much about it," he said.

"I've played with lots of ideas in my head as we move throughout the summer and as we get together as a staff, we'll to zero in and obviously injuries and how guys play in camp and all that will be a factor.

When Blashill was promoted from Grand Rapids, where he led the Griffins to the 2013 AHL championship, he had the difficult task of replacing Mike Babcock behind the Red Wings' bench.

Babcock, who signed a monster eight-year, $50-million contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, led the Red Wings to the 2008 Stanley Cup and in many circles is considered the NHL's best coach.

Blashill knows Red Wings fans are tired of seeing their team lose in the first round of the playoffs - it's happened in four of the last five years - and he believes that a year behind the bench in the NHL will help make him a better coach as he tries to change that trend.

"Experience matters," Blashill said. "You got to be real good about learning from your experiences and I think I'm somebody who has always tried to take the approach, how can we be better? How can I do better in different things?

"Certainly having gone through a season and learned, hopefully we can make some changes that will be more beneficial come next year."

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