‘Blackhawks hit a home run’: Why Jon Cooper thinks Jeff Blashill will succeed in Chicago

Jeff Blashill and Jon Cooper had been friends for years — Cooper still remembers thinking he had made a unique connection the first time they met in 2001 — but they had never worked together. Their paths had always crossed in different ways.

When Blashill wasn’t kept on by the Detroit Red Wings as their head coach in 2022, Cooper posed the possibility of Blashill joining his Tampa Bay Lightning staff as an assistant. Cooper thought it could benefit both of them.

“I think there was opportunities to be head coaches in other leagues at other levels,” Cooper recalled Tuesday. “But my thought at the time was, you know, you have an opportunity to stay in the league and be with a group that you’re close with, especially me, that we can grow together and if you learn a little bit, good on you, but at least you’re staying in the league. And, yeah, fortunately for us, he did, and he was like fabulous for us.”

Blashill spent three seasons with Cooper and the Lightning. When Blashill was officially introduced as the Blackhawks’ new head coach Tuesday, he explained why those seasons were so important and influential on him as a coach.

“I think the three years couldn’t have worked out better … for me (and) for my own experience,” Blashill said. “If this (Blackhawks) opportunity came along after year one, I’m not sure. But after year three, I’ve just had a long time to be down there to see the inner workings. And certainly, Coop is one of the best coaches in the NHL. He’s been a good friend of mine for a long time. But I never coached with him, so it was good to get with him, watch him do his work, but also Jeff Halpern and Rob Zettler. All the group down there, just really smart coaches, got to learn a ton from them. … I had a chance to see a team that had just won two Stanley Cups, been to a third Final, what a championship teams looks like, how they play, how they practice, what their approaches are.”

Cooper put Blashill in charge of the Lightning’s penalty kill, which finished fifth and sixth in the NHL the past two seasons, but he also sought to empower Blashill as an assistant. Cooper learned a long time ago that he shouldn’t be the only voice his players hear and the only person who’s responsible for anything.

“So when I first came into this league, I did everything,” Cooper said. “I did all the pre-scouts. I was the only one that basically talked to the team ever. When I went from probably being an OK coach to a good coach is when I found great assistants and gave them autonomy. I don’t want to make it sound like they can just run rogue. Everything we talk about, it’s literally talked about beforehand and stuff like that, but, yeah, I’m a believer in you got to try and bring in people smarter than myself and you got to let them do their jobs. And so, it’s a little bit of empowering for everyone. And I think when I speak, it probably holds even a little bit more weight than what it used to just because of the fact that there are different voices.“

Blashill closely watched how Cooper interacted with everyone.

“Coop has a unique way about him that I’ve really enjoyed the last three years being able to observe and see the connection he has with his players,” Blashill said. “It was a reminder to me that that’s when I’m at my best, with that same kind of connection with players.”

In having Blashill on his staff, Cooper got to know his friend even better. There became a deeper understanding of Blashill as a person and as a coach.

“The biggest thing about Jeff Blashill is he cares,” Cooper said. “And you match a guy that truly, truly cares about not only winning, but the players, the players’ best interests, the organization’s best interests, like, there’s a care factor there. And he’s got like an unparalleled work ethic. So, that’s a really good combination to have. Blash is one of those guys, he’s got charisma, he’s engaging, he can read the room.

“I think his time in Detroit was a learning experience. It was humbling for him. I think coming to us and experiencing winning like he did earlier in his career, because he’d been in one organization for a long time, not that it was better or worse anywhere else, but it’s just somewhere he got to experience something different and take a step back, learn from what he thought he did well and some of his mistakes.”

The Lightning also presented Blashill with an opportunity to coach an abundance of top players in various stages of their development.

“He’s sat in the room now with Nikita Kucherov, Hall of Famer, Andrei Vasilevskiy, Hall of Famer, Victor Hedman, Hall of Famer, Steven Stamkos, Hall of Famer,” Cooper said. “You go through the group of players that he’s been able to surround himself with. Some of them were older, yes, but you look at Conor Geekie, a high first-round pick who came into the league at 20 years old and watching him develop and how we did things. So I think it’s a pretty good education on both sides of the fence.”

Blashill noted that education during his introductory press conference.

“You get a chance to work with elite great players, every elite player I’ve worked with is unique,” Blashill said. “They all kind of have their own different ways. So you get to learn from coaching a Nikita Kucherov, coaching a Steven Stamkos, a Victor Hedman, an Andrei Vasilevskiy, all the guys down there, in their own ways, Brayden Point, I can just keep going on and on. They’re all different. They all take a little bit different approaches to try to connect with them, but the key is learning ways to connect with them, so you’re working toward the same goal. That’s helping them become the very best version of themselves, no matter what age they are, if they’re young or they’re a veteran in the league, and then helping them work together to bring the team toward the best goal and the greatest heights we can work to. It’s really been a great experience.”

The Blackhawks don’t have those established stars yet. What they do have is many young, promising players. Cooper thought Blashill would figure out ways to make whatever group he has work.

“Jeff, he’s open-minded,” Cooper said. “I mean, he knows what he wants and I truly believe he knows how to get there, but it’s not one of those situations where it’s my way or the highway. He has an ability to listen and ability to adapt. So I think with the young group that’s in Chicago, the one thing about Jeff, I think he understands accountability, but with growth, you know, how to bring guys along. He’s done it in the minors. He’s done it in junior. It was just tougher for him in pro because he had an older group when he was in Detroit and he’s had a little bit of a younger group with us and being able to see how some of these young guys came up and how we worked with them. So I think that’s all just been total growth for him.”

Cooper is happy and sad to see Blashill go.

“I truly believe the Blackhawks hit a home run with this hire,” Cooper said. “It’s tough for me because we’re losing one of our aces. Ultimately, this is how it’s all supposed to work, and you feel kind of proud when your assistants get to move up to head jobs. You feel like that’s, you’re doing some good and helping people out and it’s all working.”

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