The Detroit Red Wings have filled the vacancy on their coaching staff with Tom Renney, according to the team's official Twitter account.
The Red Wings have hired former EDM/NYR/VAN bench boss Tom Renney as an associate coach. Renney, 57, has signed a 3-year deal with the club.
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 5, 2012
A spot on the coaching staff opened up last week when assistant Jeff Blashill was named the head coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins, the Red Wings' AHL affiliate. Blashill was hired to replace Curt Fraser, who took a job a week earlier as an assistant with the Dallas Stars.
Blashill's replacement is a coach with quite a bit of experience. Renney has been a head coach for three different teams in his career, as mentioned in the above tweet. He was the Vancouver Canucks' coach for the entire 1996-97 season and was fired 19 games into the following season. With the New York Rangers, Renney was with the team as a head coach from the 2003-04 season through the 2008-09 season. Most recently, Renney spent the past two seasons coaching the Edmonton Oilers. His contract wasn't renewed after this past season.
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