TAMPA, Fla. — Former Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill is joining the Tampa Bay Lightning as an assistant coach.
Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois announced the move Tuesday, selecting Blashill to replace Derek Lalonde on coach Jon Cooper’s staff.
In a twist of fate, Lalonde is actually heading to Detroit to become head coach – in the role formerly held by Blashill.
Blashill, 48, coached the Red Wings the past seven seasons, compiling a 204-261-72 record. Detroit missed the playoffs in six of the seven seasons.
With the Lightning, Blashill joins a staff that includes assistant coaches Jeff Halpern and Rob Zettler, goaltender coach Frantz Jean and video coaches Nigel Kirwan and Brian Garlock.
The two-time defending champion Lightning were dethroned last month by the Colorado Avalanche in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Lightning have been busy with signing contracts recently.
In the midst of the 2022 NHL Draft, the Bolts made sure to lock in goaltender Maxime Lagace for another year. They re-signed Lagace to a one-year, two-way contract. This type of contact has two different possible salaries and is based on if the player is on an organization's National Hockey League roster or American Hockey League roster, the NHL explains.
And the Bolts also signed forward Nick Paul to a seven-year contract extension. Paul (Does It All) will get a whopping $3.15 million (average annual value), a news release from the team explains.
The team was able to snatch Paul up on March 20 from Ottawa in exchange for Mathieu Joseph. Before making his way to Tampa Bay, Paul played in 59 games for the Senators during the 2021-22 season.
10 Tampa Bay's Courtney Holland contributed to this report.
