Confirmed with Link: Wings Fire Lalonde and Hire Todd McLellan

[Gniwder]

At least now we know what Lalonde did to Larkin.
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I think he did it to the whole team, lol. Team has played heartless all season, now we know why.

 

[JediOrderPizza]

Temple of Doom references, I approve.

 

[cvaicunas]

[Bultman] Todd McLellan talked last night about the Red Wings looking mechanical. At today’s practice, one of the coaching points we could hear from up top was, “Play f***ing hockey. You’re done it your whole lives.”​

 

[Euro Twins]

The fact that we didn't hire another bald guy is nice.

Oh but we did. Trent yawny

 

[ShanahanMan]

Is this a subtle shot at the vets or am I reading into it?

 

[RED WINGS STOMP]

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Is this a subtle shot at the vets or am I reading into it?

Probably not, but it should be, they are the ones who got him fired.

 

[Euro Twins]

Probably not, but it should be, they are the ones who got him fired.

He got himself fired though. He was in over his head. Sad to see but it happens

 

[Euro Twins]

Now that I've had a couple days to digest this, I'm really liking the choice of coach. McLellan has a proven track record of making regular season juggernauts. If he can at least get us over 500 and back into a wild card and help the team improve to .600+ team again, that would be amazing and I doubt we'd have too many upset about that.

His biggest downfall as a head coach has been playoff success. But with a gm like Steve Yzerman, this may very well be the best opportunity he has to finally break that barrier in time.

He's come full circle back as coach where it all started and where he got his name etched on the cup.

I'm 100% bought in

 

[Oddbob]

I'm still waiting for Motte to show up. It's been 34 games and I can't point to one thing that indicates he's an NHL player.

EDIT: In fact, I think the one of the best things McLellan can do right out of the gate is to tell all of the UofM boys that, "it's cute that you all went to school together down the road, but that doesn't mean shit to me, start playing like you want to stay in the NHL."

His stats are not great, but he plays every shift with energy. Almost all the rest of the team doesn't play each shift that way. If the rest of the team played with his energy we might actually be doing good.

 

[Oddbob]

This sounds like a thing I heard that Paul Coffey had told defenceman he was coaching, (paraphrasing) "make actual plays, as your are top end players in all the world, you have the ability to make actual hockey plays".

 

[OneMoreTry]

Is this a subtle shot at the vets or am I reading into it?

Might be a subtle shot at Yzerman, for signing washed-up, underperforming vets who needed to be played.

 

[Gniwder]

His biggest downfall as a head coach has been playoff success. But with a gm like Steve Yzerman, this may very well be the best opportunity he has to finally break that barrier in time.

It took Barry Trotz 11 tries to get past the second round, and he won the Cup.

As for playoff success, that's really gonna depend on how MBN, Danielson, and Cossa/Gus turn out. Teams without a 2C generally don't make it past the first round.

 

[sepster]

It took Barry Trotz 11 tries to get past the second round, and he won the Cup.

As for playoff success, that's really gonna depend on how MBN, Danielson, and Cossa/Gus turn out. Teams without a 2C generally don't make it past the first round.

And Joel Quenneville. He was a head coach for 12 seasons, getting fired once, missing the playoffs another time, and not once making it to the finals before winning his first Cup. Most of his tenure with the Blues I thought he was an overrated, underachieving hack. Turns out he was a decent coach... just a total scumbag too.

 

[Gniwder]

BTW, Chiarot usually plays better with a new coach for a couple of dozen games. He'll start doing stupid shit once he finds his comfort zone, so I hope Todd keeps him uncomfortable, lol.

Just figured I'd mention it here as a prediction because he'll play well for a while.... then leave everyone wondering why he went back to playing like shit at the end of the season.

 

[LongTimeDRWF]

BTW, Chiarot usually plays better with a new coach for a couple of dozen games. He'll start doing stupid shit once he finds his comfort zone, so I hope Todd keeps him uncomfortable, lol.

Just figured I'd mention it here as a prediction because he'll play well for a while.... then leave everyone wondering why he went back to playing like shit at the end of the season.

Maybe play well enough for long enough to get traded before the TDL?

 

[FMichael]

[Bultman] Todd McLellan talked last night about the Red Wings looking mechanical. At today’s practice, one of the coaching points we could hear from up top was, “Play f***ing hockey. You’re done it your whole lives.”​

A-f***ingmen!

Lalonde’s horrible ‘system’ saw competent players devolve into dog feces under his tenure.

It was apparent after his 1st season that he was at best a Blashill clone…He should have been relieved of his position this past spring.

 

[FMichael]

BTW, Chiarot usually plays better with a new coach for a couple of dozen games. He'll start doing stupid shit once he finds his comfort zone, so I hope Todd keeps him uncomfortable, lol.

Just figured I'd mention it here as a prediction because he'll play well for a while.... then leave everyone wondering why he went back to playing like shit at the end of the season.

From what I’ve seen of Chiarot prior to joining Detroit - he’s at his best while playing as a ‘rover’ - jumping into the play, pinching in at the blue line, basically a higher risk = higher reward type…Just needs a solid stay at home type of partner that’s willing to put with him.

 

[Gniwder]

From what I’ve seen of Chiarot prior to joining Detroit - he’s at his best while playing as a ‘rover’ - jumping into the play, pinching in at the blue line, basically a higher risk = higher reward type…Just needs a solid stay at home type of partner that’s willing to put with him.

I agree, but he needs to have enough brains to be the stay at home guy when he's playing with a partner that can move the puck better. He's got 1.5 seasons to figure that out so he can extend his career. Otherwise his next contract will be under $2M for one or two years.

I'm hoping Todd lays into him. The problem with rookie coaches is that sometimes they aren't confident enough to yell at a veteran player. Todd has more experience as head coach than Chiarot has in the NHL, so no issues and no excuses.

 

[Oddbob]

From what I’ve seen of Chiarot prior to joining Detroit - he’s at his best while playing as a ‘rover’ - jumping into the play, pinching in at the blue line, basically a higher risk = higher reward type…Just needs a solid stay at home type of partner that’s willing to put with him.

Really. To me Chiarot has the skill set to be stay in his own end and play physical in front of the net and defensive end. All his "offensive" stuff is largely passes to nobody or people in bad spots to get a pass. To me, the way he plays is as someone who thinks they have a lot more skill than they actually do.

 

[Henkka]

From what I’ve seen of Chiarot prior to joining Detroit - he’s at his best while playing as a ‘rover’ - jumping into the play, pinching in at the blue line, basically a higher risk = higher reward type…Just needs a solid stay at home type of partner that’s willing to put with him.

I think it should work with Seider, when Seider stays down low to make is super-safe. Just like Lidström wasn't the first D up. It was just impossible to score against that.

Lidström many times evaded back and then did make the killer pass straight up, which Seider is also able to do. Fooled the whole opposite forechekers.

 

[Henkka]

What I did like in these new lines, was finding Veleno a new role with Larkin and Raymond. They just thriwed against Caps, 16-5 in Corsi, 8-2 in shots, 8-3 in scoring chances and 4-1 in High-danger Corsi. 1-0 in Goals.

If that will stay effective, it will flow better talent to lower lines. That will create a deep offence, just like last year.

Also like Copp working best with DeBrincat and Kane, which was my off-season plan already. They were also 56% in xGF% and goals went 2-0. Copp is the perfect worker between two skill wingers, we just have to admit that. Also DeBrincat was great making two screens.

As for now, they are creating a Deep Top9 maybe even Top12 offense, instead of that Lalonde Top6 - Bottom6 (with a strong bulldozer line), which was, imo - stone-aged thinking. Maybe it worked at Tampa, but not with Red Wings player material.

Berggren - Compher - Tarasenko line did not work well, they lost their puck possession pretty bad, but they have all the tools to be a great combo.

Ras - Kasper - Motte were on small ice-time, but did well.

Also the defense is now split with Chiarot-Seider and Edvinsson-Petry, also my off-season plan. Just funny now. I don't know in which world Lalonde lived, but these things looked as the off-season plan on paper, and now they are completing it. Also kids (Seider and Ed) are getting heavy minutes, carrying their weak partners, and 3rd pair not getting much ice-time at all. That's great and aggressive coaching/usage.

 

[HisNoodliness]

[Bultman] Todd McLellan talked last night about the Red Wings looking mechanical. At today’s practice, one of the coaching points we could hear from up top was, “Play f***ing hockey. You’re done it your whole lives.”​

Here's a quote about Berggren from McLellan:

"Sometimes those players, they want to stay and play in the NHL, so they're afraid to make mistakes, and they play a little more conservative. I'd like to see him just turn himself loose a little bit: Make mistakes, we'll help you, it's okay. But bring your complete toolset to every game."

This is why Lalonde needed to go. There's no strategy less effective in hockey (and perhaps life in general) than being afraid of making mistakes. Giving our players the "manage risk" mentality was actively destroying them. Everyone on the team looks like they've been turned loose. They look like hockey players again. That's such a breath of fresh air to watch.

 

[cvaicunas]

Here's a quote about Berggren from McLellan:

"Sometimes those players, they want to stay and play in the NHL, so they're afraid to make mistakes, and they play a little more conservative. I'd like to see him just turn himself loose a little bit: Make mistakes, we'll help you, it's okay. But bring your complete toolset to every game."

This is why Lalonde needed to go. There's no strategy less effective in hockey (and perhaps life in general) than being afraid of making mistakes. Giving our players the "manage risk" mentality was actively destroying them. Everyone on the team looks like they've been turned loose. They look like hockey players again. That's such a breath of fresh air to watch.

As another poster had mentioned recently, we should have all seen the writing on the wall when Lalonde spoke of not wanting to coach Kucherov. Or thinking his game was too risky, or whatever the actual quote was.

 

[SantosHalper]

It's like night and day, Fester sucked life out of this team.

 

[OgeeOgelthorpe]

I know it’s early and we’ve got the new coach bump, but this is looking like a team that’s going to get far away from a top 6 or top 8 draft pick and be in the mushy middle. The 2025 draft isn’t super impressive outside of the 10 to 12 range for me.

If I were the Wings GM I’d look at moving the pick with some protection) to improve the team that extra 5%.
Which players might be available? Preferably guys no older than 26. Is the focus more on 2C or a 3D?