from Nate Brown of Detroit Hockey Now,

Though Yzerman has done well in the draft, and steadily improved the club, there has been chatter that Lalonde, with all of his connections to Tampa, is a newer version of Blashill. Certainly, the fact that Lalonde will be getting his first crack at an NHL job is a similarity.

But there were several aspects in the press conference that stood out, perhaps no more than what Lalonde said about communication. It was different in terms of how Blashill answered when asked relationships with the players. Blashill was always a little more buttoned up, but it was evident that he did indeed care about his players. Lalonde’s answer regarding communication.

In short, it’s that communication is the core of who Lalonde is as a coach.

“I care about the guys. I’m gonna care about the guys,” Lalonde said.  “We’re gonna have a very good relationship. I’m gonna want to have a relationship, I’m gonna want to know the guys. Then when those hard conversations do come about, there’s some trust there. For it’s communication and it’s relationships.”

Again, every coach has to have relationships with players in order to be effective. But Lalonde seemingly is making that the centerpiece of his coaching.

Blashill was brought into continue winning and changed gears because of the change in direction of the organization. Lalonde’s role is different because he’s reshaping and molding players to learn to win again. And Detroit will need a master communicator to do so.

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Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 07/02/22 at 01:28 PM ET

“a newer version of Blashill”

“We got great in Tampa when we started focusing on the process.”

This is too funny.

Posted by RWBill on 07/02/22 at 01:31 PM ET