Is Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill in trouble? Let's examine

A winless team begets questions about a coaching change. 

The losses are mounting for the Detroit Red Wings, who at 0-4-2 are off to their worst start since the 1985-86 season, when they were winless in their first nine games.

The confidence that emanated from them after their first road trip, when they played well but lost in regulation and in a shootout in Southern California, has evaporated. It was an angry, embarrassed group that returned home from the second road trip, which saw the Wings lose 8-2 at Boston and 7-3 at Montreal.

How does this start affect head coach Jeff Blashill? Let’s examine. 

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My sense is management/ownership is not looking to fire Blashill. They recognize the Wings lack talent, that the team is paying for all those years of making the playoffs and thus not drafting a high-end player (when the Wings selected Michael Rasmussen at ninth overall in 2017, he was their first top-10 pick since 1991). They don’t have an elite defenseman, and they don’t have a superstar forward. Their best player, Dylan Larkin, just turned 22.

The Red Wings also are playing four rookies on the back end because of injuries to regular starters. That has caught up to them. 

Blashill certainly shoulders responsibility for how the Wings are playing, and for holding players accountable — veterans Justin Abdelkader, Gustav Nyquist, Frans Nielsen, Thomas Vanek and Danny DeKeyser have disappointed, and among the younger set, Anthony Mantha looks like he has regressed. Andreas Athanasiou finally made good on some of his many chances and scored twice at Montreal. 

When Dan Bylsma, formerly a head coach in Pittsburgh and Buffalo, was hired as an assistant in June, it spurred speculation that a successor was in place. Blashill is in the last year of his contract, and Bylsma received a three-year contract.

But the organization knew this would be another tough season, that it would be another losing season. And in the long term the Wings are better off missing the playoffs again and entering in the draft lottery. The lower they finish in the standings, the better their odds of winning the right to draft Jack Hughes, the can't-miss forward prospect who plays for the U.S. National Development Program in Plymouth. I think Blashill’s job is only in jeopardy if these lopsided losses pile up, and there’s some leeway with that until some of the veteran defensemen return. 

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Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.

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