Jamie Samuelsen

Special to the Detroit Free Press

Jamie Samuelsen, co-host of the "Jamie and Stoney Show" weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on WXYT-FM (97.1), blogs for freep.com. He also appears regularly on Fox 2​. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Detroit Free Press nor its writers. You can reach him at jamsam22@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter @jamiesamuelsen.

It seems the Red Wings are going to bring back general manager Ken Holland and coach Jeff Blashill. Which guy is on the hotter seat?

It wasn’t a huge surprise to learn Holland would be back.

When you consider the fact that Chris Ilitch has taken over as the head of the organization, it makes perfect sense he’d want a trusted man running the day-to-day hockey operations. Holland has had some bad years as the GM. But he’s also been a loyal employee who has helped deliver success. That tends to count a lot to most sports owners, especially the Ilitches.

Blashill was more of a surprise given the fact he has failed to lead the Red Wings past the first round of the playoffs and was the head coach of the first team in a quarter of a century not to make the playoffs. Holland hasn’t fully committed to Blashill for next season. Remember, Holland fired Dave Lewis after the lockout when he had the chance to grab Mike Babcock. That scenario is still in play although the roster any new coach would inherit won’t be nearly as appealing as the one that Babcock did.

Related:

Ken Holland's vision for Detroit Red Wings at odds with fans'

Which man has the greatest job security? That’s up to Ilitch and at this point, we have no idea what his ownership style will be.

The kneejerk answer is to say Blashill. He’s the coach. He’s unproven. And coaches are always hired to be fired in the NHL. The Los Angeles Kings had never won the Stanley Cup. They won two of the past five titles. They failed to make the playoffs this year, and Darryl Sutter was blown out along with GM Dean Lombardi. Ken Hitchcock was fired by the St. Louis Blues earlier this year and was hired by the Dallas Stars - a team that fired him back in 2002 after he took them to the Stanley Cup in 1999 and back to the Finals again in 2000.

If Blashill’s seat is hot, Holland’s would appear a little bit hotter because his obvious successor is so obviously known, so obviously prepared, so obviously coveted, so obviously perfect. Is it that far-fetched that we know the next GM of the Detroit Red Wings will be Steve Yzerman, we just don’t happen to know exactly when that will happen? Perhaps. But based on what we saw Sunday night when the fans at the Joe cheered for Yzerman to “Come Home” and Yzerman talked so glowingly about how the new arena will help the Red Wings, it doesn’t seem as farfetched as it seemed even three months ago.

The ceremony Sunday night closed the book on Red Wings hockey as we’ve known it. The Ilitch family is literally the only commodity that we know will exist going forward (unless of course the team is eventually sold). It seems like the perfect time to clean house, blow everyone out, and start over. The only problem? Yzerman is under contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning for two more seasons. How negotiable is that contract? That’s up to Ilitch and Tampa Bay owner Jeff Vinik. It’s also up to Yzerman and how ready he is to take on the challenge of being a legend who tries to burnish his legend the way John Elway has in Denver or the way Mario Lemieux has in Pittsburgh.

Related:

Detroit Red Wings have 6.7% chance at No. 1 overall NHL draft pick

I do know that Little Caesars Arena will be the draw next season. Fans won’t buy seats necessarily to watch Dylan Larkin or Anthony Mantha. They will buy seats to experience the new building and take part in the new “District Detroit”. So in a way, it gives the Ilitches at least one season to take stock of Holland and Blashill with limited expectations and wait another year for Yzerman, getting one year closer to the expiration of his deal. That might make it easier to pry him away from Tampa Bay without giving much in return.

The roster will change. It has to because of the expansion draft and it has to because it’s simply not good enough. Holland has the full backing of ownership both next season, and into the future according to Ilitch. That doesn’t necessarily define what that role is going into the future. It might very well be an advisory role for Yzerman. It might be as GM. The former seems far more plausible than the latter.

Holland was shown briefly on the TV screen Sunday night as the fans were chanting Yzerman’s name. It was a slightly uncomfortable moment, though we’ll never know what was going through Holland’s head. It’s not easy to do your job when your obvious replacement is waiting in the wings. But when you haven’t advanced past the second round of the playoffs in eight years and the roster has regressed the way it has, that’s the fact of life.

It’s hard to imagine a scenario where Holland and Blashill are in their current positions when the Wings contend again. Blashill might go first, that’s the nature of the job. We just have no idea who his replacement would be. But when you know who your replacement is and you know how badly some want that succession to take place, it makes the seat that much hotter and the job that much more difficult.

More Red Wings content from Jamie Samuelsen:

Jamie's blog: Red Wings' Joe Louis Arena farewell all about the people

Red Wings' playoff streak is underappreciated in Detroit