It would be easy to piggyback off these 16 reasons Jeff Blashill is right for Red Wings from Jeff Seidel of the Detroit Free Press.

Here is one quote from Holland which stood out, “Half our team won a Calder Cup with Blash. Jeff has helped many of them develop into NHL players.”

It stands to speculate that Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Riley Sheahan and Teemu Pulkkinen should receive the biggest boost in fantasy formats with the new bench boss, or is it their old bench boss?

Add Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader along with the Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk one-two punch, and the top-nine forwards are going to be strong again. Johan Franzen‘s a wild card, but one of Anthony Mantha or Landon Ferraro could likely fill out the spot better.

There is also Dyan Larkin and Tyler Bertuzzi who were impressive in their first taste of AHL action after their NCAA and OHL seasons finished up. It is likely they each receive additional seasoning with Grand Rapids given the path the organization typically conducts their business.

The blue line is a little more stable on the surface. Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson, Danny DeKeyser and Kyle Quincey are locks, and Jakub Kindl has two years left on his deal. Then there are Brendan Smith, Alexey Marchenko and Xavier Ouellet who will battle for the sixth and seventh spots with Brian Lashoff also in the mix.

Goaltending will be interesting, and a wait-and-see approach is best over the summer. Jimmy Howard is two years removed from a solid season, and potentially, his best years are more the result of the Red Wings being a solid team than anything. Being too bullish with Petr Mrazek is ill-advised, too. Howard is being paid to be the No. 1 goalie, and he will receive a long look, he could be a steal or bust for fantasy owners. It’ll really depends on where he falls to in your draft.

There are unlikely to be significant changes in Hockeytown, USA with the hiring of Blashill. He was hired to provide a smooth transition and continuance. After all, the Red Wings have made the playoffs each of the last 24 years, and they’re welcoming in the next generation of their core. And most importantly, it is a core Blashill is familiar with.