The Detroit Red Wings have a new assistant coach, as GM Steve Yzerman announced the hiring of Alex Tanguay today. The Stanley Cup champion has spent the last two seasons as an assistant with the Iowa Wild of the AHL and will now get his first chance behind an NHL bench.
Tanguay, 41, retired from a long playing career in 2016 after more than 1,000 games at the NHL level. Most of that time was spent with the Colorado Avalanche, though there were also stops with the Calgary Flames, Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning and Arizona Coyotes. A gifted playmaker, he recorded a career-high 81 points in the 2006-07 season and finished with 580 career assists. In 2001, he scored the Cup-clinching goal with the Avalanche but would lose to the Yzerman-led Red Wings in the Western Conference Final the following year.
Now behind the bench instead of on it, Tanguay is an up-and-coming coaching prospect that will quickly make the leap to the NHL. He’ll join head coach Jeff Blashill’s staff for the 2021-22 season, replacing the outgoing Dan Bylsma, who left the club earlier this year. Blashill was clear that in the search for a replacement the team would be looking for someone that can help the powerplay, which Tanguay is obviously qualified to do. In his career, he registered 244 points with the man-advantage, picking apart defenses with quick puck movement and precision passing.
He certainly can’t make it much worse, as the Red Wings had the league’s second-worst powerplay in 2020-21. At just 11.4% effectiveness, it sagged well behind everyone except the Anaheim Ducks. Even raising it to the league average of 19.8% would have resulted in 12 more goals in the shortened season.
Hi Gavin,
Can you fix the spelling error of the word ‘wost’? I believe it is ‘worst’ not ‘wost’. Please & thank you.
“He certainly can’t make it much worse, as the Red Wings had the league’s second-‘wost’ powerplay in 2020-21. At just 11.4% effectiveness”,
No don’t fix it
Too late, wishyouwerehere!
Why do you care about that lol? Weird.
Grammar police
@Bloodsport604 – There’s always at least TWO of us on duty – it’s a rule…
Maybe you should write for this free site. Looks like they’re always hiring writers
@wishyouwerehere – These guys are damn fine writers. Many writers on other sites don’t care how their finished product looks, including some on NHL.com. PHR guys do care. If they didn’t, they’d just delete select comments, or not allow them altogether.
I agree they do a fine job. And I really don’t care about the grammar police. Just always wondered why people gave a crap about it that much
Tyson Wost
@backhandinbaptist – Into the bin with you! Two for…Josting!
@wishyouwerehere – Some of us had jobs that required ridiculous attention to detail, including meticulous reports to management that were proofed more than once. And, as I have stated before, at all levels of school for me, we were not allowed to be “slob-jobbers.” None of this crap of made-up language, etc. Either it was by-the-book, or it was sent back to you for a rewrite. In other words, “close enough” wasn’t good enough. I don’t like doing it myself, and typically do multiple corrections, but still miss stuff and don’t catch it until after my five minute window expires. Occasionally, you will see me with an “ERRATA” post to correct one of my screw-ups.
Not sure how the Wings can hire a former Colorado Avalanche, especially one who played with our ultimate arch enemy Claude LeMeiux. Kris Draper must have been overruled by Stevie Y. There had to have been someone better!
Interestingly enough, Tanguay told reporters today that it was Draper who called him a few days ago to mend fences.
@Gavin – That’s a bit of a “Wow!”