Blackhawks make it official naming Jeff Blashill head coach

The Chicago Blackhawks have their new head coach. After much speculation, the team announced on Thursday Jeff Blashill was joining the organization as the franchise's 42nd head coach.

Blashill, 51, spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning under head coach Jon Cooper. Before that, he served as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings for seven seasons, during which the Red Wings were 204-261-72, qualifying for the playoffs only once in his first season in 2015-16.

The announcement of Blashill as head coach marks the first Blackhawks' bench boss with prior coaching since the hiring of Joel Qunneville in 2008.

In a news release, Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson seemed energized by the addition of Blashill, his second head coaching hire since being named GM.

"Jeff is an incredibly smart and talented coach who boasts more than 25 years of coaching experience across developmental leagues, the NHL and the world stage. He’s thrived when in a position to develop young players and has shown he’s capable of blending that into overall team success, a vision and philosophy we share for where we are today and where we see our team in the future. We couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come under Jeff’s direction."

Kyle Davidson

Second time's the charm *hopefully* for Jeff Blashill and the Chicago Blackhawks.

Hopefully things go better for Blashill the second time as head coach.

Blashill didn't have much to work with during his tenure in Detroit—a tenure that saw the franchise miss the playoffs for the first time in 25 years. Everyone deserves a second chance, and Blashill probably now has some ideas on what he wants to do differently his second time around as head coach.

The Chicago Blackhawks officially announced Blashill as head coach but have not announced anything regarding the team's assistants. Tab Bamford of Bleacher Nation did report hearing Anders Sorensen would remain on as an assistant. Time will tell what the full coaching staff looks like.