Hold new Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill to these 3 standards this season

Jeff Blashill was reportedly not the preferred choice to be the Chicago Blackhawks' new head coach. The rumor at the start of the offseason hiring cycle was that general manager Kyle Davidson wanted to hire University of Denver head coach David Carle.

When Carle rebuffed the club's overtures, Davidson had to pivot and landed on Blashill.

Given his failures in Detroit, his hiring was not exactly greeted with a thrilling response amongst a fan base growing tired of all this losing taking place during this extensive rebuild. Then again, after Mike Sullivan decided to take the New York Rangers job, there were not many headline grabbing coaches available on the market.

It helps that Blashill has a track record of developing players during his time leading Detroit. Development is what matters this season. That is why, at least for Blashill's first season, it is hard to judge him on his record.

Instead, I suggest holding him to these three standards.

Players developing

The blueline is projected to be very young. Connor Murphy and Alex Vlasic are the only defenders to have played in multiple NHL seasons. Veteran Matt Grzelcyk is in camp on a personal tryout deal. The team has made it clear that if the baby blueliners show they are worthy of making the roster, Grzelcyk is not making the team.

That means Sam Rinzel, Artyom Levshunov, Wyatt Kaiser, Kevin Korchinski, Ethan Del Mastro, and Nolan Allan all have a better chance of being on the initial 23-man roster than a veteran who had 39 assists last season.

That shows you the intent the franchise has in providing this promising crop of young defensemen with valuable NHL experience. That means they'd better start to thrive under Blashill.

If Rinzel and Levshunov are getting demoted for underperformance, that is not going to be a good look for Blashill and his staff. These are two former first-round picks the team is banking on leading the franchise back to glory. Inconsistency early on is expected, but they had better be playing at a high level toward the end of the season.

Also, young forwards such as Oliver Moore, Colton Dach, Ryan Greene, Aidan Thompson, Landon Slaggert, and Nick Lardis are all vying to make the roster. Even if they are not included in the initial 23-man roster, they will likely be counted on to make contributions at some point this season as injuries eventually hit.

Those players are being counted on to be a part of the supporting cast that helps this team get back to the playoffs someday. Blashill is being trusted with helping those players become viable NHL players.

You will see how well Blashill and his staff are doing in developing these youngsters with how well they are playing at the end of the season.

Playing the youngsters over the veterans

Davidson does want to see the team take a step forward this season. He also wants to see Blashill play the younger guys over the veterans if they have earned it.

Watch to see if Blashill follows this directive or if he stays loyal to the veterans. One way to monitor this is to see how much Sam Lafferty or Jason Dickinson plays this season. If they are still getting more ice time than Moore, Slaggert, or Dach, it should only be based on performance. I'd better not see Dickinson or Lafferty playing more because Blashill trusts them more, like what we saw in the waning days of Joel Quenneville.

Otherwise, it defeats the purpose of this season being all about development.

Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar take the next step toward superstardom

One reason Luke Richardson was fired midway through last season was that Bedard experienced some regression. He still ended up with a 60-point season, but some observers felt that was a sophomore slump.

The expectation is that Bedard does climb up the stardom ladder this season, especially since he is due for a massive contract extension.

Frank Nazar just got a huge contract extension despite playing in just 56 NHL games. Davidson is making a big bet that he will reach All-Star status, that his play has flashed during a brief sample size.

If Bedard is still just a 60-point scorer, and Nazar is regressing, then Blashill has some explaining to do.