Jeff Blashill’s staff has been set for the 2015-16 season.
Tony Granato, Pat Ferschweiler, Chris Chelios, Dave Noel-Bernier, and Jim Bedard make up that staff. Granato and Ferschweiler are the ones expected to be behind the bench, with Chelios having an “increased role”, working with the team’s defense. Noel-Bernier takes over Andrew Brewer’s former post as video coach. Bedard returns for his 19th season as the team’s goaltending coach.
Granato will be reprising his role as the leader of the penalty killing guard and defense after some uncertainty of returning to Detroit. The team’s penalty kill got off to a tremendous start in the first half of the season, consistently staying in the top ten in the league and killing off the first 21 opportunities of the campaign. With the team struggling post-trade deadline, the penalty kill followed suit, dropping to 17th in the league by season’s end at an 80.9 killing percentage. At one point, the team gave up 12 powerplay goals in nine games. Still, Granato brings valuable NHL experience to Blashill as a rookie NHL head coach. He played 13 seasons in the league, compiling nearly 800 games played. He’s served for an assistant for ten seasons with the Colorado Avalanche, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the latest with the Red Wings. His head coaching experience spans three seasons in which he compiled a 104-78-17-16.
Ferschweiler served as an assistant under Blashill for the one season he was at Western Michigan University, when the team improved from 12th to 4th in the CCHA standings with a 19-13-10 record compared to an 8-20-8 mark the pervious season. Under the Kalamazoo native, current Red Wing Danny Dekeyser and 2011 Nashville 6th round draft pick Chase Balisy were named to the CCHA All-Rookie Team that year. Balisy has since been signed by the Florida Panthers. Ferschweiler would serve as an assistant for two more seasons under head coach Andy Murray. In 2012-13, DeKeyser was once again named an All-American and won the CCHA Best Defensive Defenseman award for a second-straight season. That year the team broke the program record for fewest goals allowed in a campaign. The 45-year old was then promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2013-14 season before serving as an assistant under Blashill last season with Grand Rapids.
“Pat has a great hockey mind, he is one of the best guys I’ve been around, helping individual players get better. I think one of the things that we owe to our players is to help them become the best players that they can be each and every year. That’s a promise that I’m gonna make to the players and Pat is going to have a big impact on that, especially with our forwards.”
-Jeff Blashill
Chris Chelios, fresh after being named an assistant coach for the 2016 US National Junior Team, will work with the team’s defense as his role elevates in the organization. He will be asked to evaluate in-game player performances, attending all home games and traveling with the team on occasion. His resume as a player speaks for itself. A 3-time Norris Trophy winner and Stanley Cup Champion, his 1,651 games played ranks 5th all-time to go with his 185 goals and 948 points(10th all time for defensemen) amassed in 26 NHL seasons playing for the Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, and Atlanta Thrashers for seven games in 2009-10. He, in fact, is the only player in history to play at least 400 games for three different teams in a career. Since his retirement in 2010, he has been an Advisor to Hockey Operations for the Detroit Red Wings organization. Outside of the NHL he has played a big part in the development of USA Hockey, playing in four Olympic Games, three Canada Cups, two World Cup of Hockey events, and making a World Juniors appearance in 1982. USA won the World Cup of Hockey in 1996 with Chelios and a Silver Medal in 2002.
The first American-born head coach of the Red Wings admires the way Chelios thought and now thinks the game from off the ice.
“He looks at the game a lot through the eyes of a player, and I think when you’ve coached a long time you think like a coach and a lots of times Cheli thinks like a player. He looks at a lot of plays from a micro view and maybe I’ll look at them from a macro view. I think that different perspective has been invaluable for me over the last three years.”
Dave Noel-Bernier did not have much of a playing career, playing in six different minor leagues before joining the Muskegon Lumberjacks as an assistant head coach in 2010. Before that, he was University of Nebraska-Omaha’s video coordinator and assistant strength and conditioning coach from 2007-10. With the Lumberjacks, he spent three seasons until becoming the the director of hockey for the Eagles Ice Center and the Grand Rapids Blades youth program in 2013. He was also an assistant coach for the Grand Rapids Christian High School varsity team that year and has helped to produce more than 15 NHL draft picks and 50 Division I players since 2007.
Then the Griffins head coach, Blashill had great things to say about the 39-year old Quebec native when he was brought onto his staff last season.
“Dave comes to the Griffins highly recommend by a number of people I trust. He has a great work ethic, is very intelligent and is detail oriented, and his experience at Nebraska-Omaha and with the Muskegon Lumberjacks will be a great asset for our staff. Dave is a driven coach and I believe his addition will help us all grow. We are excited to add him to our coaching staff.”
Jim Bedard has been a mainstay for the Wings since Mike Vernon led the Wings to their first Cup in 42 years in 1997. Over the years he’s dissected Detroit goaltenders from the aforementioned Vernon to Chris Osgood, Manny Legace, Dominik Hasek, Curtis Joseph, Jimmy Howard, and Petr Mrazek.
A former goaltender in his playing days, Blashill complemented Bedard and his consistency along with the relationship he shares with the 58-year old Ontario native.
“I think Jimmy’s a proven NHL goalie coach, he’s done a great job over the years. Having some of that experience added to our staff or continuing with our staff is important. The other thing is Jimmy and I have a relationship where I got certain beliefs in things a goalie should do, drills a goalie should do, no different than I have certain beliefs in the penalty kill and things like that where I would discuss with other coaches. Jimmy and I have a relationship where we’re going to be able to have those discussions. I think it’s important.”
It will be interesting to see how the new staff can gel with the players and with each other. Blashill commented on how familiarity is a big plus.
“I think it helps in the respect-level earned from both the player to the coach and the coach to the player,” he said. “With the familiarity with the coaches to the players and coaches to each other, it’s going to allow us to hit the ground running and maybe ease over some of those bumps in the road that we could face.”
Quotes courtesy of DetroitRedWings.com
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