Chicago Blackhawks reportedly set to announce Jeff Blashill as the next head coach

All signs lately have been pointing toward the Chicago Blackhawks hiring Jeff Blashill as the next head coach.

An official announcement could come as soon as later today or tomorrow, perThe Fourth Period's David Pagnotta. Bleacher Nation's Blackhawks beat writer, Tab Bamford, is reporting that interim head coach Anders Sorenson will remain as an assistant, with Blashill bringing in the other two assistants.

The hope is that things go better for Blashill in his second go-around as an NHL head coach.

He did not win a lot when he was the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings for seven seasons. Reports are coming out that Blashill was put into an impossible situation with Detroit transitioning from making yearly runs to the playoffs to a rebuild.

He will come to the Blackhawks with a reputation for developing young players. The concern with Blashill is wondering if he can guide the Hawks from rebuilding into winners.

The Red Wings entered a full-blown rebuild in his second season behind the bench and never got to the winning phase. However, that could be because the Red Wings front office is not capable of building a winner, since the Red Wings still have not gotten back to the playoffs after moving on from Blashill.

Hopefully, being at the side of Jon Cooper in Tampa the past couple of seasons will also help Blashill bring winning to a rebuild.

This is a hire with player development in mind.

Since the University of Denver head coach, David Carle decided to stay in college, and the New York Rangers swooped in quickly to hire Mike Sullivan, there were not a lot of head coaches on the market with a development pedigree.

Blashill brings much more experience behind an NHL bench than Sorenson, so it makes sense to move Sorenson down to assistant. Sorenson does have a reputation for developing young players with his work in Rockford. However, his audition did not exactly go well with his lack of fire behind the bench, and his defensive philosophy left many premium spots in front of the Hawks' goal wide open for easy goal opportunities.

Part of that is having young blueliners, but still, it is better to go with an experienced leader like Blashill even if he is resume is not as impressive as, say, Jay Woodcroft.

Developing the team's young talent into winners is the main objective for whoever the team goes with.

Since Blashill can take credit for helping develop Dylan Larkin into a star, you have got to like his chances in helping Connor Bedard reach elite status in the NHL.

If he does that along with getting Frank Nazar there and molding the young blueliners into an elite unit, then this not being a splash hire will not matter.