The Detroit Red Wings fired coach Derek Lalonde on Thursday and named former Kings coach 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 the lowly Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference.
Lalonde was nearly midway through his third season with Detroit after winning the Stanley Cup twice as an assistant with Tampa Bay. 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 Buffalo.
Assistant Bob Boughner was also fired and former Kings assistant Trent Yawney was hired to work on McLellan’s staff. McLellan signed a multiyear contract to start his fourth NHL head coaching job after stints with San Jose, Edmonton and Los Angeles.
McLellan was fired Feb. 2 during the All-Star break amid his fifth season with the Kings after beginning the season 20-7-4 but going 3-8-6 in a span of 17 games.
The 57-year-old Melville, Saskatchewan, native 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.
This is the fourth coaching change around the NHL this season and 15th this calendar year, counting Rick Bowness’ retirement in Winnipeg. The Boston Bruins in November fired Jim Montgomery, who was hired by the St. Louis Blues less than a week later, and the Chicago Blackhawks replaced Luke Richardson with Anders Sorensen in early December.