Abel to Yzerman

Abel to Yzerman

Why Cholowski Sat In Vancouver And The Future Of Jeff Blashill

01/22/2019 at 12:30pm EST

from Craig Custance of The Athletic,

On the Dennis Cholowski decision...

“I have a heart. I’m a parent,” Blashill said during a Monday afternoon phone conversation explaining the decision. “I understand the importance of it. Without question, that enters my mind. Part of my job is to put personal feelings aside and make decisions on what’s best for the hockey team. We were sitting another defenseman in (Filip) Hronek, who we felt we wanted to get back into the lineup.”

On Jeff Blashill...

Often, the evaluation of a coach, and ultimately his job security, is dictated by how the team fares versus expectations. The Jack Adams winner usually isn’t the league’s best coach. It’s the coach whose team defies expectations the most. In this case, the Red Wings are exactly where they were projected to be. And in Blashill’s favor, they play hard. They’re consistently losing close games. They play a fast game that is very much in line with how the best teams play. The reality is that the roster on the other side of the ice is usually better than the Red Wings on a night-to-night basis. That’s not on the coach.

Before the season, Holland conceded that his evaluation of Blashill this season would be different than the typical GM and coach evaluation. “Every team is at a different stage,” Holland said. “Managers and coaches are judged for different reasons based upon where your franchise is, what cycle it’s in.”

In this case, it shouldn’t be about the spot in the standings. One-goal losses are probably the best-case scenario for the Red Wings, who need Jack Hughes more than a No. 8 spot in the playoffs. Blashill’s evaluation should rest completely on how the young players are performing and growing under his watch.

much more ($$$$) on both topics plus as Custance writes, the elephant in the room is the future of Steve Yzerman...

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Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that.

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