Fantasy Take: Red Wings Not Renewing Blashill

Ian Gooding

2022-04-30

The Detroit Red Wings have decided not to renew the contract of head coach Jeff Blashill next season. Assistant coach Doug Houda and goaltending coach Jeff Salajko will also not be returning.

Blashill was the Detroit head coach for seven seasons, mostly overseeing a rebuild with the Red Wings missing the playoffs for six consecutive seasons under his tenure.

Poor goaltending, which can stem from poor defensive play, can undermine a coach's job security. That was the case with the Wings, who had satisfactory first-half goaltending before it fell off a cliff during the second half. Since February 23, the Wings had given up five or more goals 15 times.

Alex Nedeljkovic, by quarter:

Quarter	GP	W	L	OTL	GAA	SV%	QUAL	QUAL%	GSAA
1	11	4	3	2	2.92	0.912	5	45.5	0.46
2	12	6	5	1	2.79	0.915	7	58.3	1.55
3	13	4	6	2	3.28	0.893	7	53.8	-6.63
4	23	6	10	4	3.80	0.892	8	34.8	-13.54

Thomas Greiss, by quarter:

Quarter	GP	W	L	OTL	GAA	SV%	QUAL	QUAL%	GSAA
1	10	4	6	0	3.41	0.901	5	50.0	-3.23
2	5	2	1	0	3.42	0.876	2	40.0	-3.37
3	4	2	1	1	2.66	0.915	2	50.0	0.57
4	12	2	7	0	4.53	0.875	4	33.3	-9.30

The dropoff for Greiss was less apparent than for Nedeljkovic. However, neither Wings goalie should have been starting for your fantasy team down the stretch. The Wings had higher hopes for Nedeljkovic when they acquired him from Carolina during the offseason, so a new coach could help him get back on track. Having said that, the Wings are still a rebuilding team and need depth on defense beyond Moritz Seider. Since the Wings play in a challenging division, the new coach will face an uphill battle.

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Players this helps, in order:

Nedeljkovic (Greiss is a UFA this offseason)

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Players this hurts, in order:

No one in particular

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