Tanguay, who Blashill said will be in charge of the power play, helped Iowa achieve the AHL's fifth-best power-play output in 2019-20 at 21.9 percent.
Blashill said he's excited about Tanguay's unique ability to improve the club's performance on the man advantage.
"That will certainly be one of his responsibilities. I'm very confident that Alex can put a structure together and can have a foundation of a power play, but to me, it was more than that," Blashill said. "I'm really confident that Alex can help our guys in those individual situations on the power play. That's where I thought Alex was pretty unique because of the way that he views hockey and because he was a really cerebral offensive player, himself."
Tanguay agreed with Blashill's assessment that his experience as a player will help him as he begins his NHL coaching career.
"Players always have feelings that you can't get as a coach," Tanguay said in his introductory press conference. "When you've experienced it, you've got a different view and different perspective on certain things. My job is going to be to get familiar with the players and build relationships with them and earn their trust in the fact that I'm going to try to get them better."
Tanguay, who earned 36 points against Detroit as a player, said he's excited to be on the other side of one of the most intense rivalries in NHL history.
"Kris Draper called me and he said, 'you're the first one to cross that bridge," Tanguay said. "It was such a unique rivalry. (Joe Louis Arena) was always such a special place to play. The organization was so good. It certainly was a big rivalry then, but I understood at that time how much pride those guys had in the Red Wings organization, and I'm just glad to be part of the organization now."
Tanguay said he's also ecstatic to join forces with Yzerman, who he considers one of the most respected figures in NHL history.
"Steve is highly praised in the hockey circle, not only for what he did as a player, but also what he did with the Tampa Bay Lightning before joining the Red Wings," Tanguay said. "It was a good conversation. It's always fun to pick the mind of one of the brightest in the game. Certainly I consider Steve to be extremely gifted in what he does and I'm hoping that he can still give me advice on some of things we're going to do going forward."
And while there's still more than three months before the 2021-22 campaign begins, Tanguay said he can't wait to get started.
"It's a big challenge," Tanguay said. "I was looking for an opportunity to get myself inside the door of the NHL. When I started talking with Jeff, I had a real good interaction with him. It was a great conversation. I'm very happy to be a resource now for those guys and become a part of their team and try to help this team grow. I'm just looking forward to working with those guys. I can't wait."