Red Wings at Carolina Hurricanes 4-11-15

Red Wings defenseman Jakub Kindl, battling Carolina's Nathan Gerbe, will be competing for a regular spot in the lineup.

(The Associated Press)

DETROIT - Jakub Kindl's career as a Detroit Red Wings was crumbling bit by bit under Mike Babcock.

But a new coach gives Kindl a new lease on his hockey life in Detroit. Jeff Blashill is prepared to give Kindl a fair chance to earn a regular spot on defense.

"He's got great ability and is a really good person," Blashill said. "I think he's done a great job preserving through tough times over the last few years. Hopefully he's putting himself in a good position to compete for a spot at camp."

Kindl appeared in only 35 games last season. He was a healthy scratch in 33 of the final 41 games, including the playoffs. When he did play, it often was by default - like Game 7 against Tampa Bay, when Marek Zidlicky was out with a concussion.

A good-sized (6-3, 216) puck-moving defenseman the Red Wings selected 19th overall in 2005, Kindl appeared to have established himself during the lockout-shortened 2013 season. But he regressed the following year.

Babcock's constant complaint with Kindl was a lack of competitiveness.

Blashill still sees offensive potential. Kindl had five goals and 13 points in limited action.

"His strengths for me are he's good on the power play; he's another guy that's going to compete for power-play opportunities," Blashill said. "When he's playing his best he's a great puck-moving defenseman.

"He's going back for pucks. He's seeing through the forechecker, making the proper passes. I think for me that's the No. 1 ingredient for defensemen to be great, their ability to break the puck out of their own end so you're not playing in the D-zone and you're playing in the other team's end. That's a formula for winning."

Cracking the lineup when everyone is healthy will be tough. The top six defensemen going into training camp are Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, Mike Green, Danny DeKeyser, Kyle Quincey and Brendan Smith.

Several young defensemen in the system (Alexey Marchenko, Xavier Ouellet, Nick Jensen and Ryan Sproul) no longer will be waiver-exempt in 2016-17, forcing some personnel decisions. That puts Kindl's future with the team in doubt.

But, at least it appears he'll get an opportunity to resurrect his career.

Blashill, during his one season as an assistant coach under Babcock in 2011-12, coached Kindl. He also coached Kindl for a couple of games last season in Grand Rapids, when he was assigned there for a conditioning stint.

"When he came down to play with us I thought he did a great job," Blashill said. "You can say it's an NHL player coming down and playing, but you have to stand out and he stood out. He did a great job."

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