NHL News: Chicago Blackhawks Officially Name New Head Coach

Jeff Blashill has officially been named the 42nd Head Coach of the Chicago Blackhawks

Earlier this week, we learned that the Chicago Blackhawks were reportedly battling with the Seattle Kraken for the same head coaching candidate. We got the official word today that the Hawks have indeed named Jeff Blashill as their new bench boss.

Jeff Blashill is the 42nd Head Coach of the Chicago Blackhawks‼️

📰 ➡︎ https://t.co/YJMSzjwBw0 pic.twitter.com/8vHrfbVT7u
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) May 22, 2025

Blashill, 51, has spent the past three seasons as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He was the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings for seven seasons largely during a rebuild from 2015 through 2022, and he won a Calder Cup trophy coaching in the AHL in 2013.

New Blackhawks head coach Jeff Blashill works well developing young talent

"Jeff is an incredibly smart and talented coach who boasts more than 25 years of coaching experience across developmental leagues, the NHL and the world stage,” Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson said. “He’s thrived when in a position to develop young players and has shown he’s capable of blending that into overall team success, a vision and philosophy we share for where we are today and where we see our team in the future. We couldn’t be more excited for what’s to come under Jeff’s direction.”

Working well at developing young players will certainly be a huge asset with Chicago, as their roster is loaded with prime developing young talent like Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, Arytom Levshunov and more.

Blashill is certainly a fine choice, though it's true that two-time national champion David Carle of the University of Denver was their top target, and they reportedly made him a huge offer. But he ultimately decided to stay at UD, with the program he's taken to national prominence over the past seven years, including NCAA titles in 2022 and 2024.