Jeff Blashill 3-29-16

Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill vows to learn from his first season behind the bench in the NHL.

(AP File Photo)

DETROIT - The front office anticipated a smooth coaching transition, players welcomed a new voice and all hoped for better results in 2015-16.

But finding consistency was a season-long struggle for the Detroit Red Wings during Jeff Blashill's first year. Many players underachieved and team performance was lacking in several areas.

The end result was another first-round playoff exit which general manager Ken Holland described as disappointing.

"Certainly, without question, I better have learned," Blashill said. "That's with every job I've ever had and in every year of every job you better learn and get better."

Coaches must do better at maximizing players' abilities by putting them in the best positions to succeed. Too many players regressed. Statistically, few were more productive than in 2014-15. Blashill took some responsibility for that.

"One thing that we want to do is help our guys get better," Blashill said. "That doesn't always mean production-wise. Sometimes it has to do with minutes; there's only so many to go around, and that can affect a lot of things including production. But part of what we want do is help our guys get better and making sure that we get better as a team through the course of the year."

Blashill might have relied too heavily on veterans Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson and Brad Richards. Zetterberg and Kronwall, in particular, need their ice time reduced.

Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar combined for 18 fewer goals. They also averaged 1:29 and 1:52 less ice time, respectively.

Andreas Athanasiou provided a spark with his speed and maximized his ice time when promoted permanently on Feb. 5 but averaged only 9:01 because Blashill felt he wasn't ready for more minutes.

Teemu Pulkkinen and Tomas Jurco, who flourished under Blashill in Grand Rapids, didn't progress and were frequent healthy scratches.

Most players had either played for Blashill in Grand Rapids or were familiar with him from his one season as an assistant under Mike Babcock in 2011-12.

Holland supported Blashill, saying he did a good job.

"Babs is such a big personality - he had such a presence," Holland said. "I think Jeff had to deal with a different relationship with the players than they were accustomed to under Mike Babcock.

"Blash is the second-youngest coach in the NHL, he's had lots of success in the AHL. He's going to be a better coach for what he went through this year. I think he's a really good, young coach. ... I think he's going to be a tremendous coach in the NHL."

Blashill is in the process of replacing assistant coach Tony Granato, who was hired as head coach at Wisconsin.

"One thing that Tony certainly provided was great experience in the NHL as a player and a coach, can give you lots of perspective as you maneuver through the NHL," Blashill said. "So there's no question that experience will be a big factor."

Pat Ferschweiler, in his first season as an NHL assistant coach, was in charge of a power play that struggled much of the season, despite finishing 13th in the league following a late surge. It was ineffective in the playoffs (1 for 25).

Blashill didn't rule out changing roles on the staff.

"We'll look at everything," Blashill said. "How I can be better is partly how we all can be better as a staff, so we'll look at everything in totality and how we can make ourselves more productive. Our goal is to try to get better and if that's done through our staff then we'll certainly address that."

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