Ferris State Hockey Alum Jeff Blashill Tabbed As New Head Coach For NHL's Chicago Blackhawks

Big Rapids, Mich. - Ferris State University alum and former Bulldog men's ice hockey student-athlete and coach Jeff Blashill has been hired as the new head coach of the National Hockey League's (NHL) Chicago Blackhawks.

Blashill, 51, takes over the Blackhawks' reigns following three seasons as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning and it marks his second NHL head coaching opportunity after previously serving as the head coach for the Detroit Red Wings from 2015-22.

Over the past three seasons, Blashill has been on Jon Cooper's staff in Tampa Bay. Blashill primarily worked with the defense and ran the penalty kill for the Bolts. During his tenure behind the Tampa Bay bench, Blashill,  helped the team earn a record of 138-86-22, qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in each of his three seasons with the club. 

Blashill served as the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings for seven seasons from 2015-16 to 2021-22, where he compiled an overall record of 204-261-72 in 537 regular season games along with one postseason stint in his first season in 2016, falling in an Eastern Conference Quarterfinal to the Lightning in five games.

Prior to taking over as Detroit's head coach, Blashill served three seasons as the head coach of the Red Wings' American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins, where he advanced to the playoffs in all three seasons and won the first Calder Cup championship in franchise history in his first season with the Griffins in 2013. He was awarded the Louis A. R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL's most outstanding coach in 2013-14 after guiding the Griffins to a 46-win season, and he compiled an overall mark of 134-71-23 during his tenure in Grand Rapids.

Blashill also served as an assistant coach with the Red Wings for one season in 2011-12, was the head coach of Western Michigan University in 2010-11 and was the main bench boss for the Indiana Ice of the United States Hockey League for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, winning a Clark Cup championship with the Ice in his first season with the organization.

On the international stage, Blashill served as head coach of Team USA three times at the IIHF World Championships (2017, 2018, 2019), guiding the team to a bronze medal in 2018. He also worked as an assistant coach at both the 2022 IIHF World Championship as well as the 2009 World Junior Championship.

Originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Blashill also served as an assistant coach at Miami (Ohio) University (2002-03 to 2007-08) and Ferris State University (1999-00 to 2001-02). He played goaltender collegiately at Ferris State, where he compiled a 27-36-5 record with two shutouts over 78 games during his four-year career. He was the Bulldogs' Rookie of the Year in 1994-95, earned a spot on the CCHA All-Academic Team in 1996-97 and won Ferris State's President's Award in three-consecutive years for having the highest grade-point average on the Bulldogs. He began his coaching career at FSU under legendary former Bulldog head coach Bob Daniels.

Prior to his collegiate career, Blashill played junior hockey for the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL from 1991-94 and helped the team to the Clark Cup in 1992, one of only two people in USHL history to win the Clark Cup as both a player and a head coach.

Blashill and his wife, Erica, have three children: Teddy, Josie and Owen. Blashill's brother, Tim Blashill, currently serves as Ferris State University's Assistant Athletics Director for Facilities and Event Operations and is the head coach of the Big Rapids High School hockey team.