Washington (AFP) – Todd McLellan was named the new head coach of the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday after the NHL club fired Derek Lalonde after three seasons in the role. The 57-year-old Canadian, who signed a multi-year contract with the Red Wings, had previous coaching stints with the NHL San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers, and Los Angeles Kings.
McLellan, who was fired by the Kings last February 2 after going 23-15 with 10 overtime losses, has a career NHL coaching record of 598-412-134 over 1,144 regular-season games and a 42-46 mark in Stanley Cup playoff contests. His teams have reached the playoffs nine times in his 14 full NHL campaigns but never reached a Stanley Cup Final. In the 2022 and 2023 seasons, his Kings club lost to Edmonton in the first round of the playoffs. McLellan had previously served as an assistant coach with the Red Wings from 2005-08 and was on the staff when Detroit won the 2008 Stanley Cup.
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Lalonde, 52, became the fourth NHL coach fired this season after the November cuts of Boston’s Jim Montgomery and Drew Bannister of St. Louis, as well as Chicago’s Luke Richardson on December 5. He went 89-86-23 with the Red Wings after four seasons as an assistant coach at Tampa Bay, having helped the Lightning to the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021.
The Red Wings are 13-17-4 and seventh in the Atlantic division, ranking near the bottom of the NHL in goals and penalty killing. They have not reached the playoffs since the 2015-16 season, the longest drought in team history following 25 consecutive trips to the post-season.
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