The Chicago Blackhawks have hired Jeff Blashill to be their next head coach the club announced on Thursday. Blashill will take over for interim head coach Anders Sorenson who finished out the season after the firing of Luke Richardson midway through the 2024-25 NHL campaign.
“Jeff is an incredibly smart and talented coach who boasts more than 25 years of coaching experience across developmental leagues, the NHL and the world stage,” GM Kyle Davidson said. “He’s thrived when in a position to develop young players and has shown he’s capable of blending that into overall team success, a vision and philosophy we share for where we are today and where we see our team in the future. We couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come under Jeff’s direction.”
Blashill previously spent time behind the bench with the Detroit Red Wings from 2015-2022, posting a 204-261-72 record with the club. After being relieved of his duties, he joined Jon Cooper’s staff as an assistant in Tampa Bay for three seasons.
Since the well documented culture reset which saw many longtime coaches and front office executives let go following the infamous 2018 sexual misconduct scandal, Chicago has cycled through 4 different first time NHL head coaches.
With the roster still in the midst of a rebuild, Chicago’s brass felt that Blashill’s experience in the NCAA, USHL, and AHL ranks, coupled with his years of developing young players in the Motor City were the ideal fit to become the 42nd head coach in franchise history.
The Blackhawks will now turn their attention to the 2025 NHL Entry Draft where the club holds the 3rd overall selection this summer.
Photo: TheAHL. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.