Detroit Red Wings set to go season with no assistant coach in 2025-26 season

Jay Varady was recently hired as part of the coaching staff for the Philadelphia Flyers, as Rick Tocchet's regime takes shape.

While this should be concerning to Red Wings fans, the GM Steve Yzerman and Todd McLellan don't seem to be phased.

Varady served as one of the assistant coaches for the Red Wings for the last three seasons, and from 2022-25 as part of Lalonde's staff.

The record he helped attain here might be part of the reason why the team let him walk.

Now, it appears Trent Yawney will be taking on the lion's share of the responsibilities as Varady joins the rebuilding Flyers organization.

Fortunately for the Red Wings, the sting might not hurt so much, as Yawney has a proven track record in developing talent in the NHL. He's credited with developing some of the NHL's top defensemen, and we could see that with Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson here in Detroit.

Yawney's resume of top-talent defenseman in the NHL speaks for itself, as he's developed players such as Brandon Montour, Cam Fowler, Darnell Nurse, Brent Seabrook, Duncan Keith, and Sean Walker.

Could he be a multi-pronged threat and build players in the offense and defense this year?

For the sake of the rebuild, we hope so.

The route of going without 2 assistant coaches seems unconventional, but Todd McLellan has faith in him.