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Long before the NHL season ended, the Detroit Red Wings knew that there would be changes on their coaching staff.
Monday, those changes became wholesale.
Insisting that both he and head coach Jeff Blashill felt the time to change things up was ripe, Red Wings general manager Ken Holland confirmed that Jim Bedard had been relieved of his duties after 18 seasons as the club’s goalie coach and that assistant coach Pat Ferschweiler was being reassigned from the bench to press-box duties.
Since assistant coach Tony Granato announced late in the season that he was departing to take the head coaching position with the NCAA’s Wisconsin Badgers, the latest moves mean that whether Blashill looks to his left or his right next season, he will be seeing a new face helping to run his bench.
Bedard’s departure also means that the staff working under Blashill is completely different from the one that worked with Mike Babcock during his last season as Wings coach in 2014-15.
The Wings won’t say whom they are considering for the open positions, but they did confirm that any new hires won’t be internal and that they’d already begun the interview process.
“Jeff Blashill and I have gone over a bunch of names,” Holland said. “We’ve interviewed a couple of people.
“Jeff Blashill also has talked to a number of other people. Does it lead to an interview process? That’s to be determined.”
What Holland did confirm was that the Wings want this process handled with the utmost urgency.
“In next couple of weeks, if not sooner,” Holland said.
Ferschweiler, who was on Blashill’s staff with AHL Grand Rapids, came up to the NHL with him and handled a struggling Detroit power play that slipped from second in the league in 2014-15 to 13th overall in 2015-16 and went a dismal one-for-25 in the Wings’ five-game first-round playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
While the Wings were tight-lipped on what candidates they were considering for the position, Holland made it clear that an NHL resume is vital.
“We’re looking for NHL experience,” Holland said. “We lost a guy with a lot of experience in Tony Granato.
“We want to replace him with someone with a lot of experience.”
It’s logical that Grand Rapids coach Todd Nelson, will be a candidate. Todd Richards, formerly the coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, former Wings assistant Paul MacLean, who was an assistant with the Anaheim Ducks in 2015-16 and ex-Wings defenceman Doug Houda, recently dropped from the staff of the Boston Bruins, are other possibilities.
Some are hoping to be candidates for head coaching jobs,” Holland said of coaches in which they have under consideration. “In some cases, we’ve got interest in waiting.”
Former Wings defenceman Chris Chelios, who worked with the team on a part-time basis this season, has previously indicated that family commitments would preclude him from taking on a more significant role with the team.
“I’m fortunate enough that Blash and those guys allow me the flexibility to go see my parents, my family,” Chelios said. “They’re old. That’s the only issue.
“If it wasn’t for my parents (health) I’d love to take on a full-time job. But at this point they’re not doing well and the more I’m around the more it helps them.
“Would I love to help full-time? It would be great. I’ve always said I want to do things full-tilt. I feel guilty I’m not here more but again, I’m putting my family ahead of the team right now.”
The Wings didn’t have a goaltending coach on staff when they hired Bedard in 1998. He was part of three Stanley Cup winners while with the team.
There’s strong speculation that Bedard’s replacement could prove to be Jeff Salajko, who was Detroit netminder Petr Mrazek’s goaltending coach during Mrazek’s time in Grand Rapids. Like Mrazek, Salajko played junior hockey with the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s.
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