Red Wings name Jeff Blashill as new head coach

After Mike Babcock left Hockeytown to coach Toronto, the Detroit Red Wings officially named Jeff Blashill as their new head coach. He is the team's 27th head coach in Red Wings history and served an assistant coach for Detroit under Babcock in the 2011-12 season.

Blashill, who was born a Southfield native and made a living in Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula, spent the past three year coaching Detroit's AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins. He had to wait to nearly three weeks to officially become Detroit's head coach due to his coaching obligations with the Griffins. During his time in Grand Rapids, Blashill won the 2013 Calder Cup, AHL coach of the year in 2014, and reached the AHL Western Conference Finals this season.

At 41 years of age, Blashill became the NHL's second-youngest coach behind John Hynes of the New Jersey Devils, who was hired this month. In addition to being Blashill's first ever shot as an NHL head coach in the NHL, but he is also the first American-born coach in Detroit's history. Kalamazoo is also familiar with Blashill, for he was the head coach at Western Michigan University in the 2010-11 season.