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5 NHL teams who should hire Gerard Gallant right now

By Dave Stevenson

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 27: Head coach Gerard Gallant of the Vegas Golden Knights takes questions during a news conference following the team's 5-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks at T-Mobile Arena on October 27, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 27: Head coach Gerard Gallant of the Vegas Golden Knights takes questions during a news conference following the team's 5-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks at T-Mobile Arena on October 27, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Glenn James/NHLI via Getty Images /

3. Detroit Red Wings

Quick – who’s the third-longest tenured head coach in the NHL? Jon Cooper is the first. Paul Maurice is the second. Would you believe it’s Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill? Because, for some odd reason, it is. Blashill was hired to replace Mike Babcock back in 2015. Since then, the Red Wings have made the playoffs just once and have gone 148-177-50 in 377 games, as of Jan. 15, 2020.

Now, is it completely Blashill’s fault the Red Wings have gone from perennial playoff team to perennial last-place contender under him? Absolutely not. The Red Wings roster is horrific. However, it’s clear Blashill is not the right coach for the Red Wings unless they want to continue losing.

Gallant’s teams have traditionally been strong. Their underlying stats are impressive. Just this season, the Golden Knights are a top five team in just about every underlying stat you can think of, whether it’s Corsi, scoring changes, or expected goals. This proves Gallant has a strong system that can have success.

The Red Wings are one of the wealthiest teams in the NHL. They need to start acting like it if they’re going to get out of the slump they’ve been in since the start of the 2015-16 season. Hiring Gallant would change the fortunes of the Red Wings. General Manager Steve Yzerman should understand the importance of having a great coach. Jon Cooper helped him have quite a bit of success in Tampa.

Maybe they shouldn’t fire Blashill now since they’re clearly trying to win as few games as possible and obviously, Gallant would be counter-productive to this goal. But after this season, the Red Wings should be very interested in parting ways with Blashill and hiring Gallant.

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