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Thanks to SG1 for the catch. Nothing from the team yet, but Twitterverse says Brome is headed back to Europe. Exit interviews are in full swing
Update - Christian Djoos has signed in Switzerland. Detroit can retain his RFA rights. May have been notified that the team didn’t have plans to use him for next year
Djoose to Switzerland
I asked for your thoughts on draft picks and where Detroit will select.
your picks so far have been a lot of fun to go through. Eklund still seems to be consensus with Owen Power the prize if Detroit gets first overall. A lot of thought has gone into the scenarios. As we get closer to the draft I’ll repost and see how everyone feels. It was nice to see some goalie love in the comments as well. With no clue where Petruzzelli is at, the prospect pipeline doesn’t feel very strong.
Mlive did a post about Yzerman’s approach with Blashill’s extension. The Cliff’s notes version is that no one really knows. Look, it’s tough when you have to post updates and there aren’t updates to post. All I can offer over and above what the good folks at MLive have written is my own personal thoughts.
Blashill fits a very unique niche right now. Down revenue team that is rebuilding, and he is one of the lower paid bench bosses in the league. On top of that, the team got better. Not earth shatteringly better, but better. Goals for and Goals against both showed improvement. GF 2.23 and GA of 3. Up from gf/gp of 2 and ga/gp down from 3.73. That’s a full goal differential.
For the “what if” scenario, how much better could that have been with Larkin, Bertuzzi, Fabbri, Ryan all healthy for the majority of the season? Possibly another .25 for? That’s a lot, but not impossible. The games were easier to watch. I don’t know how much that factors in, but it was less like a root canal and more like an overdue cleaning (where the dr accidentally pokes a cavity). Still moments of pain, but a far better feeling overall.
With all that said, I’m going to repeat a thought I’d had a month or so ago. I believe Blashill will have a “flexible” role being offered to him. If the draft comes and Yzerman doesn’t have someone different, Blash is still the guy. If/when a new coach is brought on board, JB will have some options. He may be offered a role in the office or some sort of development type role. What a lot of people probably don’t know is that Jeff did a ton of scouting when he was with USA hockey and in the collegiate ranks. I’d had a chance to interview him was a collegiate bench boss (Western Michigan) and he was on the way to Ann Arbor. A trip he did frequently. Jeff kept his own notes on developing players and liked to be in person as much as possible. His work ethic is immensely strong.
I think the organization is grateful to Blashill and Co. They have put in a lot of effort during some painful years. Seeing NYR fire their head coach is a glimpse at the opposite model of a rebuild. They paid a lot of money to get coveted free agents, and expectations with Kakko and Lafreniere were very high as well. Larry Brooks and others are spinning, “they would have made the playoffs in two of the other divisions”, etc. Ownership went from preaching patience to demanding a finished product far too quickly. Yzerman isn’t doing that.
If anything, the focus has shifted to the younger players. Larkin will still be at the head, but the 20-23 year old group is now the “core” as far as age. The development of Zadina, Veleno, Seider, Raymond and whoever is coming in will be the mark of what the playoff version of this team looks like. We still need a goalie (Keith, just sign it already) and defensively need to improve. With all that in mind, Blashill is fine for “steady as she goes”. The roster will turn over a good deal again. Everything will get a little younger and faster, but inexperience will need to be accounted for. I still think 21/22 will be better, just not “playoff better”. Not yet.
There’s been a lot of impatience regarding getting a new coach. For sure it’s representative of how brutal a rebuild this has been. I believe we’re turning the corner from “shedding the old” and bringing in the new guard. Next season’s version of Detroit could be the best we’ve seen in a while, and Blashill could well be at the controls. Only time and a press conference will tell.
Let me know your thoughts. More and more coaches are hitting availability pool. Anyone you want to grab that’s out there now? Are we waiting for the Isles post season to finish up? Tell me in the comments.
Check out my previous blogs:
your picks so far
Give me your picks and predictions
Columbus vs Detroit postgame
Columbus vs Detroit pregame
Bobby Ryan not ready to retire
Svechnikov Mic’d up 
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