Red Wings coach reunites with NASCAR driver at Michigan
BROOKLYN, Mich. — Not many NHL coaches are on a first-name basis with NASCAR drivers, but Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill is.
Blashill spent three years playing junior hockey in Des Moines, Iowa, and got to know driver Michael Annett during that time. Annett, who drives HScott Motorsports’ No. 46 car in the Sprint Cup Series, grew up in Iowa and was a youth hockey player in the early 1990s.
The two met through mutual friends, and Blashill has kept track of Annett’s career over the years. They reunited Sunday prior to the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
“I look forward to trying to renew (the relationship),” Blashill said. “I’m always looking for unique perspectives and how other (sports) work and how that can help us be better and how that can make me better.”
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The second-year coach said he planned to pay particular attention to the teamwork on pit road during Sunday’s race to see if there was anything that could translate to hockey. He also attended a Detroit Lions practice last week for similar reasons.
Blashill, the grand marshal for the Pure Michigan 400, took two laps in a pace car Sunday morning to get a taste of what the drivers would feel in the race and joked he had no interest in driving anytime soon.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “It raised my respect level for the drivers. To double the speed we were going and with 40 cars out there bumping and grinding, that’s incredible. I didn’t talk to my driver the whole time because I didn’t want to distract him.”
The Red Wings went 41-30-11 in Blashill’s first season, which ended with them getting eliminated by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of the playoffs.
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He said defenseman Niklas Kronwall should be ready for training camp despite announcing he will skip the World Cup of Hockey with an injury. Blashill said Kronwall had promised to put the Red Wings first and decided he wouldn’t play in the World Cup if he wasn’t 100% healthy.
Kronwall dealt with a knee injury earlier this year.
“His focus right now is being ready for camp,” Blashill said. “I expect him to be ready for camp. As you know, it’s a day-to-day business and we’ll see where that brings us. But we hope he’s ready to go and be the great player Nik Kronwall has been.”
Blashill praised the Red Wings’ organizational depth in being prepared for this season despite two forwards — Tomas Jurco and Teemu Pulkkinen — undergoing offseason surgery.
“A lot of people have talked about our (25-year playoff) streak,” he said. “Our goal is not necessarily to continue a streak, it’s to earn entrance into the Stanley Cup playoffs so we then have that chance to take a run at the Stanley Cup. The only way you can do that is either if you’re super lucky and you don’t have any injuries — which hardly ever happens — or you have great organizational depth.
“Right away, even before the season starts, our organizational depth gets tested. I think it’s been a strength of this organization. … Now we’re in a position where we can continue to have success even when we absorb injuries.”
Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck