Just came here to post this… Was at the game on the 23rd and they looked abysmal. Happy to move on from Lalonde
I mean, it had to happen, but…McLellan?
Trust me, as an Oilers fan, McLellan is one of the most average uninspiring coaches you can hire.
True, but he develops young talent and coaches good defense, both things this teams needs desperately
Good thing we missed out on Jim Montgomery because we decided to wait another month.
He is the coach the rest of the year. Unless he gets the wings in the playoffs, he probably wont be back next year. Yzerman has one more year or he should be next
“Signed him to a multi-year contract”
Thats pretty stupid then. Oh well
Don’t get me wrong he’s not a bad coach, I think with the Oilers it didn’t work because they had higher aspirations than just making the playoffs and he’s good for getting a team to the playoffs but poor at adjusting on the fly, very stubborn with his systems. However, he’s a solid structural coach so he should instill some good habits for a team that is looking to merely get into playoff contention so not a bad hire for where the Wings are in the process.
This is exactly spot on
Longtime Kings fan here. Todd is a great choice to develop a young team. He’s not so great once they start winning however .
This is good hire for the Wings. But get ready for super boring 1-3-1 defensive hockey.
Idk if necessarily coaching as the issue….
This roster is bad. The only hope is all the prospects end up being good. And either filling the lineup or major trade bait
It’s 100% coaching, trust me… There’s talent there, but no structure to the game plan or development… McLellan should help with both.
Wow, so this is really surprising to me. The Red Wings basically fired a head coach and hired his replacement on the spot. That timing seems awful suspect to me.
Hiring Todd McLellan is also really interesting. I rememeber him as the assistant coach from Babcock’s crew that I thought had the best shot of being a head coach, pretty similar to Aaron Glenn for us now. He never really did that great as a HC so it seemed to me like he was more suited as a really good assistant coach and maybe just not cut out as head coach.
I know I am old and have been detached from hockey for awhile, but it’s still crazy to me seeing players I watched like Trent Yawney are now becoming coaches. I know its the natural progression, but it’s still strange. It’s just like when I see a guy playing and think “I remember when his Dad played. I abused his Dad on NHLPA '93 all the time.”
He actually has a great record of taking mediocre teams and turning them into playoff contenders, which is the wings to a T…
As far as timing… I agree, me thinks this deal was in place and they waited until after Christmas to fire him. It also explains leaving some shit players on the roster and keeping young talent in GR, couldn’t let him win too many games if they indeed wanted to fire him.

me thinks this deal was in place and they waited until after Christmas to fire him.
Apparently Boxing Day meant moving boxes.

Longtime Kings fan here. Todd is a great choice to develop a young team. He’s not so great once they start winning however
.
This is good hire for the Wings. But get ready for super boring 1-3-1 defensive hockey.
I never understood why he kept employing the trap against the Oilers, it gave the Kings virtually no room for error. The moment they opened up they gave the Oilers some trouble on the forecheck. The Oilers probably beat them anyway in those playoff series but he refused to adjust, went through it with us too so it’s just who he is a solid systems coach but stubborn and not adaptable situationally in the least.
i recognize him only because he would talk at intermission during wings games when Babchoke was the coach.
Agree in general
Has a winning recod
Good for bringing a weak team to a better team but apparently missed out on the Scotty Bowman DNA
I.e. can’t win a cup
Right now
Improvement and getting to the playoffs next year if not this year would be a huge step forward