Confirmed with Link: Wings Fire Lalonde and Hire Todd McLellan

[nhlisawesome]

Good. Hopefully Mclellan gets something positive out of this season for us. Yzerman himself can't let the playoffless streak get to 10 years or he's also done

 

[DamonDRW]

at the very least he is far better than Lalonde.

and also, I liked the way those San Jose teams played against us. It is not his fault we had best centers in the league that time.

 

[RRhoads]

I am happy about this. Not many experienced coaches available.

I suggested McLellan or Gallant on Oct 31st.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Good coach who's had success in the regular season but I'm pretty sure he was the sharks coach when they had those really good teams and always kept coming up short

Had McDavid and draisaitl and never did squat ... I dont expect him to come here with this current group of guys and no mcdavid draisaitl Kopitar in the pipeline and see great things in the next few yrs

We'll have to wait and see what happens

To be fair, Chicago and LA between 2010 and 2015 were the teams that kept beating him.

7 yrs		SJS	NHL	540	311	163		66	688	.637		62	30	32		.484

Todd McLellan Coaching Record, Awards and Honors | Hockey-Reference.com

When he's had a good team, they've done well. I don't think we have to worry about his teams underachieving relative to expectations like Fester did. I think at worst they'll play to their ability, which may only be a .500 team for the rest of the year but that's better than what we saw under Lalonde.

 

[OldnotDeadWings]

Two consecutive seasons of team improvement was going to give Lalonde a longer leash than many critics wanted. A firing wasn't going to happen during about six weeks of one-goal games, it took the team falling apart after giving away a game to Montreal. It was bad enough they lost on some leaky goaltending, their best player coughing up the puck for a SHG, and their PK again failing, but it was the response in the next two games that made a coaching change necessary IMO. Those two efforts were unacceptable. SY may have made up his mind after the game in Montreal but decided to put it off until after Christmas. They did nothing vs. St. Louis to make him change his mind.

McLellan is a good hiring. He has immediate credibility and brings a clean slate, probably a simplified more defensive approach and emphasis on puck possession. He didn't make the decision lightly. He was going to be some team's next hire, he didn't have to take this job and wouldn't have if he didn't think the team was on the right track. But he's still limited this season by SY's bad summer. SY did Lalonde no favors in the off-season. The mandate was to get better defensively, and for most of the season they have been better apart from PK, but it wasn't going to work without bringing in a top four D. Asking Tarasenko, Berggren, Kane to buy into a defense-first approach wasn't going to work. Expecting Gus to contribute defensively wasn't going to work. It was clear from the start, and especially the way they played the first month that a regression was entirely possible.

The coaching change isn't going to put the Wings into the playoffs. There are too many short-term roster problems and too many teams in the way. The Cap dumps won't be dumped anytime soon, at least not enough of them, and there is nobody in GR who'd be an improvement. The best we can hope for is a more obvious unity of purpose to moving and holding onto the puck and more physical commitment. Hopefully no more games where at the first sign of adversity they throw in the towel. A top 10 pick is virtually assured, and some judicious selling at the TDL might get them close to a top five pick and better lottery odds.

 

[Hobnobs]

To be fair, Chicago and LA between 2010 and 2015 were the teams that kept beating him.

7 yrs		SJS	NHL	540	311	163		66	688	.637		62	30	32		.484

Todd McLellan Coaching Record, Awards and Honors | Hockey-Reference.com

When he's had a good team, they've done well. I don't think we have to worry about his teams underachieving relative to expectations like Fester did. I think at worst they'll play to their ability, which may only be a .500 team for the rest of the year but that's better than what we saw under Lalonde.

Plus this could be a "prove it"-deal which if it doesnt work will be taken care off during the summer when more coaches and time to evaluate them is available.

 

[Winger98]

The later it got the more I worried Lalonde was going to survive another day. Good to see Yzerman move on this, and send Boughner out the door with him.

About the 1-3-1, the left-wing lock was basically a 1-3-1 system and I don't remember being bored by those teams. It really depends on your personnel and how you want to push it. McLellen has always seemed like an aggressive guy on that front.

Looking forward to the next game

 

[redwingsfannn9191]

To be fair, Chicago and LA between 2010 and 2015 were the teams that kept beating him.

7 yrs		SJS	NHL	540	311	163		66	688	.637		62	30	32		.484

Todd McLellan Coaching Record, Awards and Honors | Hockey-Reference.com

When he's had a good team, they've done well. I don't think we have to worry about his teams underachieving relative to expectations like Fester did. I think at worst they'll play to their ability, which may only be a .500 team for the rest of the year but that's better than what we saw under Lalonde.

Well the avs kept beating us until we finally found a way through. He never did

We can all agree we wanted lalonde gone and mclellan will do a better job. I dont think he'll be the guy who"ll be around when were finally a top team again and I think the smart move move as much as ppl might hate it is to have kept lalonde till the end or close to the end of the season, get a top 3-4 pick and walk out with a player who can be a game changer and then fire lalonde

This way if we get better and end up with the 10th pick its basically the same whit we been doing for the last 4 years without adding someone who can be a franchise changing player. We still have the same garbage d core on the ice outside 2 guys so who knows

I'm definetly getting fed up of our team sucking like everyone else but I want to see this team be cup contenders again not being a middle team forever

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

I feel like the Todd McLellan hiring needs it's own thread. Too much in one thread.

 

[Hobnobs]

The later it got the more I worried Lalonde was going to survive another day. Good to see Yzerman move on this, and send Boughner out the door with him.

About the 1-3-1, the left-wing lock was basically a 1-3-1 system and I don't remember being bored by those teams. It really depends on your personnel and how you want to push it. McLellen has always seemed like an aggressive guy on that front.

Looking forward to the next game

They are somewhat related but not really. 1-3-1 is the trap. LWL is different and is more of a 3-2 or 2-1-2 depending on how it's deployed.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Was Boughner in charge of the PK?

 

[Al48]

The good with Koala is he'll light a fire under some of the players and maybe give you guys a temporary turnaround.

The bad is he's horrible with younger players. Will make the skilled ones learn on the 4th line and become a grinder, then blast them and kill their confidence because they aren't scoring in that roll. He did that specifically with Arthur Kaliyev, Gabe Vilardi and a few others.

His coaching decisions will give you gray hair. Back to back years against the Oilers in the playoffs he made the same mistakes over and over. He's also still being paid by LA this year and has the highest salary of all the NHL Coaches which is a joke.

1-3-1 is very boring hockey. LA's skilled guys (Fiala, Kempe) were not fans.

I was optimistic when LA hired him, but that went out the door very quick. Hopefully it's different for you guys.

Kempe scored 41 goals under McLellan, so I’m not sure where he was hampered offensively. Fiala also had good years under him, going over a point per game one time, something he’s not currently doing. McLellan also oversaw a pretty rapid rebuild for the Kings on the fly, bringing many young players onto the team which is bearing fruit now.

I can’t really speak whether this will work for the Wings, but things were pretty bad under Lalonde, and the players just look like they don’t care anymore. I’ll take the change, if only for a few years, to right the ship, even if he’s not the coach that ends up being here when we contend again.

 

[OneMoreTry]

Was Boughner in charge of the PK?

Yes. Maybe Steve put him into a cannon and shot him across the border.

 

[Air Budd Dwyer]

He's doing the same thing he was doing in Tampa atm just with lesser pieces. Signings of guys like Chiarot, Holl, Kane, Tarasenko, Talbot is very comparable to the Brewer, Salo and the myriad of goalies deals before Vasi was ready.

The seat gets hot if guys like Danielson, Pelikka, MBN, Cossa/Augustine, Buch, Kasper etc fails.

Exactly. The free agent placeholders he’s been signing have been mostly bad-mid. But I think that’s kind of by design since they’re cheap and won’t be here too long. His first round draft picks, up to this point, have been very promising.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Why would he hire Todd and sign him to a multi-year right now? What's the extreme rush? Was he coveted? Seems weird to bunch the firing and hiring news in the the same press release if it's not an interim coach? Multi-year wtf?

 

[dalem177]

Lots of good discussion, we finally have something to talk about....

I'm a bit surprised nobody mentioned the nepotism angle yet. Stevie hired yet another buddy.

What bothers me is that he signed a coach to a multi-year contract instead of riding out the tank. Unless Larkin gets injured, we're looking at another pick around #10 as mentioned earlier. Stuck in mediocrity.

1-3-1 trap more than likely means Ed and Mo will get split up, it'll be interesting to see how he handles it in terms of handedness between all of the right handed forwards and the #1D being right handed while #2 is left handed.

The biggest issue with Fester was that he didn't trust younger players. He's not a good developmental coach, you can't develop without ice time. With a bunch of youngsters coming up in the next 2 seasons, Fester was gonna be gone anyways. Todd is gonna have to do better.

I think what you're looking for is

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Regarding young guys (Age 25 and under) that came up during Mclellan's tenure at teams he's coached:

San Jose: Pavelski, Setoguchi, Vlasic, Couture, Demers, and SJS traded for Burns who quickly became a top tier defender in the league under him.
Edmonton: Draisaitl, Nurse, McDavid, Eberle, Hall, RNH, Larsson, Klefblom
Los Angeles: Walker, Clarke, Byfield, Kempe, Durzi, Moore, Vilardi (better in WPG than LAK) Matt Roy, PLD (gross) Laferriere, Spence, Anderson.

At a glance I'd say that Mclellan is a very good coach for young guys to learn from. Especially kids that trend towards middle of the lineup.

I think we can be happy with this move for the next 3 years while he helps mold the young guys into responsible, effective NHLers.

Why would he hire Todd and sign him to a multi-year right now? What's the extreme rush? Was he coveted? Seems weird to bunch the firing and hiring news in the the same press release if it's not an interim coach? Multi-year wtf?

See my post. It might be very good for the kids.

Was Boughner in charge of the PK?

Yes.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

Well the avs kept beating us until we finally found a way through. He never did

We can all agree we wanted lalonde gone and mclellan will do a better job. I dont think he'll be the guy who"ll be around when were finally a top team again and I think the smart move move as much as ppl might hate it is to have kept lalonde till the end or close to the end of the season, get a top 3-4 pick and walk out with a player who can be a game changer and then fire lalonde

This way if we get better and end up with the 10th pick its basically the same whit we been doing for the last 4 years without adding someone who can be a franchise changing player. We still have the same garbage d core on the ice outside 2 guys so who knows

I'm definetly getting fed up of our team sucking like everyone else but I want to see this team be cup contenders again not being a middle team forever

His best defenseman was Dan Boyle, and his top center was Joe Thornton, one of the biggest playoff chokers I have ever witnessed.

Match that against Doughty and Kopitar or Toews and Keith in the playoffs one for one. Now match up the Kings' and Hawks' depth against San Jose. They were the superior teams. The fact that he was able to coach them to the kind of regular season records they achieved was still a big achievement.

 

[dalem177]

Yes. Maybe Steve put him into a cannon and shot him across the border.

Oooo, shades of the False Dimitry!

 

[19 for president]

Why would he hire Todd and sign him to a multi-year right now? What's the extreme rush? Was he coveted? Seems weird to bunch the firing and hiring news in the the same press release if it's not an interim coach? Multi-year wtf?

To be fair it could be a two year deal for all we know, which is fair. Can't fully judge based on the mess that is this season, but next year could be a prove it year. Wings need to look semi competitive before a cup winning pedigree coach is likely to want to coach here.

I think Todd is our "make the playoffs coach" and then we maybe look for a more winning pedigree once we are in our window. But with that said guys like Joe Q, Maurice, etc were all guys that were deemed as not being able to get over the hump until they won it. The only really good teams McClellan ran were those SJ teams and they were very competitive teams vs Detroit and Chicago. The early McDavid teams had zero depth/ defense. The LA teams were rebuilding. Stevie is building/ drafting a defense first team, maybe McClellan will be a good fit.

 

[SantosHalper]

New assistant coach Yawney also brings in the mandatory bald.

 

[tabness]

 

[AtlantaHotWings]

I just want the team to act like they give a sh*t playing. I can take losses if the team TRIES vs what we have seen the last 3 games.

 

[Frk It]

I am in the "hate to see you go but love to watch you leave" camp. It was clear even to me that Newsy wasn't the right man for the current job. I dk much about McLellan, but I do know he's new and that might get the guys playing hockey again. I hope Newsy lands somewhere good and excels there.

Does Newsy have a nice ass?

 

[Snuggs]

Why would he hire Todd and sign him to a multi-year right now? What's the extreme rush? Was he coveted? Seems weird to bunch the firing and hiring news in the the same press release if it's not an interim coach? Multi-year wtf?

I don't mind it.

It's just a signal to me that he believes in him and this is "his guy".