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He will control the Defense and PK Also Blashill confirms, to no surprise, Jeff Salajko is the leading candidate for the Goalie Coach Job as well.

Detroit Red Wings ‏@DetroitRedWings 4m4 minutes ago UPDATE: #RedWings Name Doug Houda Assistant Coach. Story: http://redwn.gs/1T9dzbN Awesome!

I can't wait. Apparently, the new rule is an all-bald coaching staff? Semi-hairless.... OK, then

God damn Pierre has to be just pissed. Won't know who's who on that bench.

Woot called it! I love this. Boston was one of the best defensive/possession teams for this half of the decade. Hopefully this pans out!

Fair enough. But the difference between Blash and Babcock is that Babcock was into the league for 10 years and not much was getting done while Blash was here for 1 year so far. Blash has room to get better and better. Hopefully he does.

Another reason I like Todd Richards is because young centers have tended to do well in his offensive scheme. None of Johansen, Jenner, or Dubinsky are superstars, but they've performed well under his offense, and I'd love to see what he could do with Larkin and AA. Then get a defensive coach that really understands puck possession and transition and we are set. Don't really know who I like for a defensive coach though.

How come Datsyuk is tearing it up in the World Championships but had 0 points in 5 playoff games for the Red Wings??? Hmmmmmm??? Old man Datsyuk sure can perform well when it comes to Russia! See what I did there? Just swapped a name. Literally. We could take the situation at face value and realize the entire Wings squad was terrible in the playoffs. And realize that those same players are doing well for their respective national teams. Datsyuk 3 points in 3 games for Russia Nyquist 2 goals in 3 games including a game winner for Sweden Both of them (and everyone else) were "ghosts" in the playoffs.

For the other assistant role: "They are expected to talk to Todd Richards when he returns from the World Championship, where he is the head coach for Team USA." http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2016/05/doug_houda_fills_one_of_red_wi.html

Wow, good call kickazz. I like this hire a lot. Good stuff!

He was an all star, he at times was in the Vezina conversation, he was named to team USA in the olympics. Hell, when he first started in the NHL debate there was even debate whether he even belonged there. Remember his debut? It was concerning. Just being an average goalie was him exceeding expectations. On top of that he has had his moments where he was among the best. But that's what separates him from the elite: Consistency. And he will never become elite, as he never has nor does he currently have the tools to do so. Mrazek, on the other hand, does.

Hard to read Tampa. They had a very easy road to the conference finals, because of the schedule, they were lucky to avoid both WSH and PIT. You have to believe they'll be a huge underdog in the next round. That said, they'll be the fresher team and they have a very good goalie, so anything can happen. PIT still has a question mark in goal, we'll see how that goes, WSH can still come back if Holtby keeps playing like he did in game 5.

Secondary scoring is actually extremely important. If you don't have it, teams will focus entirely on shutting down primary scoring and then you are toast. It is pretty easy beating teams in the playoffs who have very thin forward lines.

Marc Crawford named an assistant in Ottawa, so that's one name off the list.

Doug Houda for defense maybe. He was assistant for Boston. From what I remember couple years ago Boston had the best possession metrics under him and their defense really thrived.

To show that the ENTIRE TEAM struggled to score, not just Goose. You're singling out one player over a TEAM issue. That's my point. Goose finished the playoffs tied for first on the team in goals. We had two players score more than one point. He was also a +2 despite scoring one point. So no, Goose wasn't the issue. Put Goose on a line with a center who isn't 80 years old and a rugged winger who can do the dirty work and I'm quite confident he has a much bigger impact than a lot of players on the team when it comes to the score sheet. Playoffs included.

Nahh not at all. I've had my gripes with Blash, but unless we get more of the same next season his job should be safe. By the sounds of exit interviews combined with today's news of finding a new assistant coaching staff, my issues with Blash are on the back burner for now. And that is him being okay with sticking with that dreadful pp all season, and depending far too much on vets (even s***ty ones like Joke Andersson).

Bring Maclean back

I miss Layne Working on the Highway-Springsteen

Typically a non tanking re-build that works takes about 3-5 years (this if off the top of my head, I'm not exactly running statistics here). I feel like our re-build started in 2013 so by 2018 I think we should be making some noise.

I think that given the amount of roster and management turnover we are expecting right now, its a perfect time to take stock of what we have, identify what kind of team we want to be, and then make player and coaching decisions based on that new identity. I don't think its smart to bring guys in because of their names or previous experience (though I do want some experience, no rookies). For instance, if we don't envision ourselves as a Randy Carlyle type team, then we would be dumb to hire him. Regardless of his experience. We need to figure our what we have, what we want to be, and then hire the right people to make it so. Personally, I like Todd Richards. His teams play fast and aggressive and I like that given our lineup. But that's just me. There's also a connection there, he used to work with Tyler Wright in Colombus.

Regardless of what a team does from year to year, it's ridiculous to suggest that a team can miss or make the playoffs based on the "momentum" from the previous year... Blashill didn't have a great year, but he certainly didn't have a terrible year either. He finished right around where most fans expected he would in his first full season. With the changes being made this offseason, and the growth of Blashill with his first NHL season under his belt, I expect a better result next season. Of course, depending on who is brought in to take over the two assistant positions and goalie coach, as well as what changes are made to the roster will determine how much better the results will be...

What momentum? We almost didnt make it in 2015 and in 2014 we got embarassed by Boston first round. We also got embarassed by Nashville in 2012 first round. Blame Blash all you want but Babcock was just as terrible in the playoffs with a BETTER roster.

hockey porn.

And he chose Nyquist of all people? I would have named it Downey or Lilja.