The Detroit Red Wings fired coach Derek Lalonde on Thursday and named Todd McLellan as his replacement, a major change by general manager Steve Yzerman more than a third of the way through another disappointing season in the place known as “Hockeytown.”
The move the day after Christmas comes with the Red Wings on a three-game skid and having lost nine of 12. They’ve lost 21 of 34 games this season and are above only the lowly Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference.
Lalonde was nearly midway through his third season with the Red Wings after winning the Stanley Cup twice as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Yzerman inherited Jeff Blashill as coach when he left the Lightning for the Red Wings in 2019 and hired Lalonde in the summer of 2022 with the goal of getting the team back in the playoffs.
Despite signing three-time Stanley Cup champion Patrick Kane in 2023 and re-signing him last offseason, the success has not approached the Red Wings’ glory days when they won the Cup four times between 1996-97 and 2007-08 — three times with Yzerman as captain and once with him working in the front office.
Instead, their playoff drought is on track to reach a ninth year — second-longest in the league behind the Sabres.
Associate coach Bob Boughner also was fired and Trent Yawney was hired to work on McLellan’s staff as an assistant. McLellan signed a multiyear contract to start his fourth NHL head coaching job after stints with the San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings.
McLellan, 57, coached his team to the playoffs in nine of the 14 full seasons he was in charge behind the bench. He returns to the Motor City after getting his first job in the league as a Red Wings assistant in 2005 and serving under coach Mike Babcock on the 2008 title run.
The Melville, Saskatchewan, native was hired by the Sharks just after and led them on three trips to the Western Conference finals. Most recently, McLellan was fired by the Kings in February during the All-Star break and interviewed for other vacancies since.
This is the fourth coaching change in the NHL this season and 15th this calendar year, counting Rick Bowness’ retirement in Winnipeg. The Boston Bruins in November fired Jim Montgomery, whom the St. Louis Blues hired less than a week later, and the Chicago Blackhawks replaced Luke Richardson with Anders Sorensen in early December.
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