For the first time in a while, the Lightning will have an opening on their coaching staff. On Thursday, it was announced that Lightning assistant Jeff Blashill was hired to be the next head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.
During end of season availability, Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois said the plan was to retain the entire coaching staff, unless they were given a head coaching opportunity elsewhere. At that time there were still eight NHL head coaching vacancies.
"We have really good people in our organization,” said BriseBois. “I won't be shocked if some of them are offered positions as head coaches somewhere else, and if that's the case, we're never going to hold someone back. If that's what they want to do, we'll support them.”
Blashill and Jon Cooper go way back. In Tampa, he was tasked with overseeing the Lightning’s defense and penalty kill which improved this season. Late last week, it was reported that Blashill had emerged as a leading candidate for the vacant head coaching position in Chicago.
“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,” Chicago general manager Kyle Davidson said following the announcement.
“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.”
