DETROIT – The Detroit Red wings have finalized their assistant coaching positions.
On Tuesday the Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Ken Holland announced that the team has finalized its coaching staff that will work under new head coach Jeff Blashill.
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Holland said that Tony Granato and Pat Ferschweiler have been hired as bench coaches. Holland also announced that Chris Chelios will expand his role and join the coaching staff and that Dave Noel-Bernier has been hired as a video coach. Longtime goaltending coach Jim Bedard will return for his 19th season with the Red Wings.
Tony Granato is a former NHL player returning for his second season as an assistant coach with the Wings. He previously was an assistant coach and later head coach of the Colorado Avalanche. He has also served as assistant coach for the Pittsburgh Penguins and Team USA at the 2014 Winter Olympics. He will serve as a bench coach for Blashill.
About the coaches
- Pat Ferschweiler also returns for his second season with the organization. A former player in the minor and international leauges, Ferschweiler served as an assistant coach and later head associate coach for Western Michigan University before coming to the Red Wings' minor league team, the Grand Rapids Griffins, also as an assistant coach. He will also serve as a bench coach.
- A former player for the Red Wings himself, Chelios is well-known by fans. After a long and storied NHL career, the Hall of Fame inductee has served as an advisor to the Red Wings management and has spent time in the minor leagues mentoring young players. This season he will evaluate player performance and advise the bench coaches, as well as continuing his role in player development.
- Dave Noel-Bernier spent last year alongside Ferschweiler working as an assistant coach for the Griffins. Noel-Bernier is also a former player, having spent time in the UHL and later European leagues, before coaching at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and later the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL. He will serve as the team's video coach.
- Jim Bedard returns for his 19th season with the Wings organization as a goaltending coach. Bedard is also a former goaltender himself, with a brief two-year stint in the NFL, but most of his career was spent in the minor and European leagues. He spent time as an assistant and goaltending coach for various minor league teams before coming to the Red Wings, where he also scouts goaltenders in the minors and collegiate levels.
After the departure of Mike Babcock the Red Wings promoted Blashill from their minor league team, making him head coach of the Red Wings. In filling these positions the team is closer to finalizing the coaching staff under Blashill.
Their first preseason game is scheduled for September 22.