Detroit Red Wings' Jeff Blashill: NHL coach firings 'a bit crazy in the league'

Experience has taught Jeff Blashill to ignore social media, and professionalism to focus on what he can control.

He coached his Detroit Red Wings through a good hour-long practice on Thursday in preparation for hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday and the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

Blashill spent part of Wednesday on the phone with general manager Steve Yzerman, who is out of town attending scouting meetings, dissecting the team’s 8-2 loss at the Islanders.

Blashill also took time out to send a note to colleague Gerard Gallant, who was fired as coach of the Vegas Golden Knights and replaced with Pete DeBoer, who was fired in December from coaching the San Jose Sharks. They are two of seven NHL head coaches who have been let go this season, five of them for on-ice performances.

“Most of the guys that have been fired are people that I know well and some are more friendly than others,” Blashill said Thursday. “They’re good coaches. Gerard is a good coach. Pete DeBoer is a good coach. They’re guys that I respect a lot and I just send out a note.

“I think it’s a bit crazy in the league right now, but that’s the way it is right now.”

The Wings are last in the NHL at 12-32-3 and headed for a fourth straight draft lottery. Yzerman may look to bring in a new coach – Gallant is a longtime friend; a former roommate, Lane Lambert, is an assistant with the New York Islanders – but there has been no indication from Yzerman that he plans to change coaches in-season.

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Blashill, 46, is in his fifth season coaching the Wings. He is the third-longest tenured coach in the league, behind Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper (2013) and Winnipeg’s Paul Maurice (2014). Blashill was promoted in 2015 when Mike Babcock bailed, citing the lack of depth in the organization. The Wings are mired in a rebuild, and don’t have enough talent to match up against opponents.

“Most nights we show up and we work really hard,” Dylan Larkin said. “Work ethic has never been the problem. He’s done a good job preparing us for that.

“I think anyone in this locker room would be crazy not to tell you that we have to do a better job and that’s the players. Unfortunately in this league, the coaches seem to be replaced first before the players, when mostly it’s on the play of the players. We need to be better as everyone in this locker room and the players know that. The coaches are trying to help us be better players and evolve our game.”

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Larkin noted Knights players lamented Gallant’s firing, saying, “the players in that room sounded sad that he was gone and that he lost his job because of their play. That’s really what it comes down to and I’m just kind of echoing what they said. It sounds like he was well respected, well liked by the guys in the room.”

Blashill has been Larkin’s only coach since he made the NHL in 2015.

“We’ve grown together in this league and I have a lot of respect for him,” Larkin said. “He’s a great guy, a great dad, great coach. Well respected in the room.”

Yzerman told Blashill last summer to focus on the development of the young players more so than wins and losses. The two talk regularly – Yzerman often watches practices and then goes to the coaches’ offices – and the main topic is long-term improvement, not Blashill’s job.

“I don’t bring it up and he doesn’t bring it up,” Blashill said. “I don’t think it really has any real big place. I don’t need to be told I’m doing good or if he wants to tell me we’re not doing a good job, I think it would be more specific as to what area. If there’s something that’s bothering him, he is certainly not afraid to say either our team has to be better at this or I don’t like the way we do this. That’s normal feedback.

“Other than that, I certainly don’t bring up anything else. I ask his advice on how he thinks we’re doing, I want his opinions on how we are playing, I want his opinions on players, I want to make sure that he is involved in that process. He has lots of experience as a player, as a manager, he has seen lots of stuff, so we have long conversations at times, short conversation at times.”

Blashill said he blocks out social media, especially Twitter, where anonymity enables a toxic level of vitriol. Blashill passed the message along to his wife and three children.

“I had to tell my wife it doesn’t help me if you know everything,” Blashill said. “My kids aren’t on a whole bunch of social media, but they would hear more of it. My son, Teddy, has one kid at school that likes to say that we did a bad job when he walks into school after tough games. But that’s good for Teddy, he learns how to be mentally tough at a young age. He’s 13, old enough to do it.”

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.