Blashill to remain Red Wings coach after last-place finish

Jeff Blashill remains coach of the Detroit Red Wings.

"I have no plans on making a coaching change at this time," general manager Steve Yzerman said Wednesday.

Detroit was 17-49-5 when the season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. The regular season was declared over Tuesday when NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman unveiled the Return to Play Plan with a 24-team format.

The Red Wings' .275 points percentage was the worst in the League since the NHL salary cap was introduced in 2005-06 and the third worst in Detroit's 93 seasons, behind .250 in 1985-86 and .256 in 1976-77.

Blashill is 153-194-52 in five seasons, and Detroit failed to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth straight season. But he took over a team in decline toward the end of what would be a 25-season playoff streak. Center Pavel Datsyuk returned home to Russia in 2016. Center Henrik Zetterberg stopped playing because of back problems in 2018.

Yzerman, who became the Red Wings GM on April 19, 2019, said he did not expect to compete for a playoff spot this season. He echoed comments he made Feb. 24 after Detroit sent forward Andreas Athanasiou and defenseman Mike Green to the Edmonton Oilers in separate trades.

"I think Jeff has done a good job," Yzerman said. "I think it's been a difficult position. In his tenure here, the Red Wings [have been] in a rebuild. … For the last two, three [NHL] Trade Deadlines, the team has traded valuable players for future assets, and Jeff has, with his head held high, diligently worked hard, done a good job in coaching this team in a difficult situation throughout that.

"As I said in February, I think it's unfair to judge him based on our record at this time, and quite frankly, we need to improve the team for anybody to truly critique or assess the coaching staff. We need to improve the team."

Yzerman said he had not spoken to Blashill about his future. Blashill is scheduled to speak to the media Thursday.

"He's the head coach of the team," Yzerman said. "I'm sure he heard my comments in February. We've talked about our team. We've talked very openly about our plan, what we're trying do, where we're at presently, where we're going, and we intend to here discuss our team moving forward."

Yzerman also said the Red Wings plan to name a captain before next season but did not identify candidates. They have not had one since Zetterberg.

Detroit is one of five teams without a captain (New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Vegas Golden Knights).

"I can't really give you a timeline on when we'll do that, but that is the intention," Yzerman said.