Jeff Blashill has a message for Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings will be looking for their second straight victory tomorrow night as their road trip continues with a stop in Tampa Bay to take on their division rival Tampa Bay Lightning. And for a pair of coaches on both sides, it will be their first time facing their old respective teams.

This will be the first opportunity that current Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde has faced the Lightning, whom he left after several years and two Stanley Cup championships as an assistant for the Motor City this past offseason. Meanwhile, former Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill will be facing Detroit for the first time since he wasn't retained by GM Steve Yzerman. 

As you may remember, Blashill spent seven years behind the bench in his role as head coach, qualifying for the postseason only one time. It certainly was past time for Detroit and Blashill to part ways, especially the way the last three months of last season ended. And it will certainly be a bit strange facing many of his former players tomorrow night.

"Certainly it'll be a little different emotions coaching against an organization I spent that much time with," Blashill told reporters. "Honestly, I hadn't thought much about it until yesterday, coming into today."

"We want to win a game, and they want to win a game. These games are super important, (but) I'd be lying if I said something different about emotions going on because certainly that's the case. It'll be different, I can't tell you how I'm going to feel until we're in the middle of it. A lot of guys, a lot of players in that room, I've coached a long time. Obviously the staff I was with throughout. It'll be different. It'll be interesting what those emotions will be like."

It was an easy decision for Blashill to accept joining the Lightning coaching staff, as they are lead by his good friend in Jon Cooper. But he admits that he's surprised by how well Detroit has been doing.

"There's been times this year where I went to look at the stats and I thought I was looking at the wrong team," Blashill said.

"There's probably some reality to that, going to Detroit would be different for sure," he continued. "Walking into the visitor's room, that'll be a different feeling, obviously. To a large degree, the chapter closed last June, but it will be good to kind of, once these games are over with and moving on past them just from an emotional standpoint."