Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde, standing, watches during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the St. Louis Blues, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)
Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde talks to his players during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
FILE - Los Angeles Kings head coach Todd McLellan watches his team's NHL hockey game against the San Jose Sharks in Los Angeles, Nov. 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Owen Baker, File)
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 their past 12. They've lost 21 of their first 34 games this season and are above only in the Eastern Conference.
Lalonde was nearly midway through his third season with Detroit after as an assistant with Tampa Bay. Yzerman inherited Jeff Blashill as coach when he left the Lightning for the Red Wings in 2019 and 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 Buffalo.
Associate coach Bob Boughner was also fired and Trent Yawney 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 San Jose, Edmonton and Los Angeles.
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 West final. Most recently, McLellan was in February during the All-Star break and interviewed for other vacancies since.
This is the fourth coaching change around the NHL this season and 15th this calendar year, counting Rick Bowness' retirement in Winnipeg. The Jim Montgomery, who was less than a week later, and the Chicago Blackhawks in early December.
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