The Detroit Red Wings Fired Derek Lalonde and Hired Todd McLellan
Uh, wow. Did NOT see that coming. Derek Lalonde and Bob Boughner were fired by the Detroit Red Wings and Todd McLellan and Trent Yawney hired to take their places. I’m frankly in shock. Every part of this surprises me, frankly. Last month I wrote an article advocating for Lalonde and Boughner to get fired. The fact that we got to Christmas without it happening made me believe that Yzerman’s plan was to just tank this year and get a superstar in the draft. To try to make up for accelerating the rebuild in Bedard’s draft year. Apparently not. There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s dive in.
The first is what this means for the team to fire Lalonde, especially now. One: it means there will be no making up for accelerating the rebuild, in my opinion, too quickly. Yzerman wants a winning team. He’s not willing to tank or suck. Losing is unacceptable to him. And I think we see that with McLellan and why he was hired, but we’ll get to that. Even more so, though, I think it’s how they were losing that was unacceptable. Frankly, the team didn’t look they cared. Watching this team this season has been mostly boring and soul destroying. It’s some of the worst hockey I’ve ever seen. They didn’t even have the decency to be bad but fun. They’re bad and boring. Hideously boring. At every opportunity the past month of so, I’ve switched over to the Blue Jackets or just watched them instead. So, there’s that. But also, I can tell that Yzerman isn’t willing to count this as a lost season because of the fact that he had McLellan ready to go. He didn’t fire Lalonde and do what I suggested: make Jay Varady interim head coach. There is no interim head coach. McLellan signed a multi-year contract. He is the new head coach. The message is obvious: the front office sees this season as far from lost. They believe this team has far more potential and they want to see it realized. Lalonde wasn’t going to do that. This front office wants a winning team, and they’re not waiting for next year for that to happen. They want it now.
One other thing I want to mention before I move on is the fact that Bob Boughner was fired as well. This also shows that the front office is no longer willing to lose. If tanking was a plan, he wouldn’t have gotten the boot too. This team has lost games because of the penalty kill. Yzerman expects, at bare minimum, a competent one. The time of poor performance is over. You will perform or there will be consequences. We’ll talk more about consequences in a bit.
So, why McLellan of all coaches? For me, this says a few things:
Yzerman was not happy with the passivity of Lalonde’s coaching. There was no aggressiveness. Lalonde was all about low-event hockey and just ensuring the other team couldn’t create chances. Which isn’t necessarily bad, mind you. The problem is, the Red Wings were so focused on that they never created their own chances. You can see that in how embarrassingly few shots on goal they had in many games this season.
This team needs a motivator. The last two coaches were “tactician” coaches. They were all about the tactics, and frankly, had very good tactics. I will defend Lalonde on this point. I do believe his tactics were generally strong, the roster just wasn’t able to capitalize on them. We’ll get to the roster in a bit, though. I got things to say about that. Anyway, what McLellan is strong at is lighting a fire under player’s asses. Which is frankly, what this team needs more than anything. Someone to get them out there and play with some passion. To stop accepting losing.
Finally, this says that this team needed an experienced head coach. They needed someone who has experience winning. The last two coaches had no experience as a head coach or winning. Frankly, it showed. It was time for someone who’s been there, done all that, and is always one of the more coveted names out there. Not saying McLellan is a great head coach, he’s certainly not. I would say he’s above average. This automatically makes him the best head coach this organization has had in a long time. No more first-time coaches figuring it all out. It’s time for a steady hand.
Ok, now we’ve talked a bit about coaching and what this teams for those behind the bench. What about other areas in the organization? For instance, the roster? I would expect to see some changes during the season, but I doubt anything too massive. Many of these players frankly, are immovable. It’s not happening. I doubt there will be any huge roster changes during the season, but probably a few minor ones. Just to further send a message. In the offseason, though, I expect a massacre. I’ve not been quiet about which players I hope to never see in a winged wheel ever again after this year. I would not be surprised if we see a buy out or two. A lot of these players need to go. The Red Wings need to move on from placeholder mediocre veterans and instead, start bringing up young talent. The prospect pool is deep and has some difference makers and potential difference makers. It’s past time to prioritize them. If Yzerman is this angry about the losing and is willing to make this change which I didn’t see coming at this point, I have to imagine (and hope) that he realizes this as well. The kids are making a difference. Simon Edvinsson is already top-pair quality and the second-best defender on the roster. Marco Kasper may not have many points, but brings the energy and fire the team needs. The points will come soon enough. Of course, Seider and Raymond, the two cornerstones of the rebuild, have been leading this team. They are playing just as well as two franchise cornerstone players should. Now, it’s time to get ready for Sandin Pellikka, Cossa, Brandsegg-Nygård, Danielson. If Mazur can stay healthy for once, him too. It’s time for the youth. I also expect that we’ll see some appearances by some later this year. I do expect, but could be wrong, that the front office is going to want to see what they have in some of the prospects in the second half of the season. I wouldn’t be surprised to even see Söderblom get a second chance at the NHL at some point in the second half. He’s improved a lot and those who follow Grand Rapids far closer than I do have been saying he’s deserving of a second chance. Is he a difference maker? No. Not at all. Could he be a consistent fixture on the fourth-line for a long time? Absolutely. I would honestly be surprised if he doesn’t get another shot at some point. If not this year, next year. I’ve heard too many who follow the AHL say he’s knocking on the door, at this point. In addition, when their season in Sweden is done, I don’t think it would be crazy to think Sandin Pellikka could get a shot in the NHL. If Danielson keeps improving as he has been, and there’s a middle-six or top-six forward injury, I wouldn’t be surprised if they call him up to give him a little bit of experience before sending him back down for a playoff run.
Now then. There is one more thing that must be addressed: Yzerman. He has now fired two head coaches. In any other organization, the temperature under the GM’s seat would go up over this. You cannot fire two head coaches without expecting your seat, at bare minimum, to be warm. I am not saying his seat should be hot, but it should at least have some warmth under it. These are the standards any other fanbase would have. To anyone who’s going to call me a “reactionary” for saying this, I want you to know: you aren’t a Red Wings fan, you’re a Steve Yzerman fan. Your judgement is clouded by your memories of him as a player. I can tell because his track record as the General Manager of this team is frankly, lacking. He has drafted well, but so far, outside last season, it hasn’t led to success. What it’s led to is a regression so large fans have been debating between Hagens, Schaefer, Misa, and Martone for weeks now. In any other fanbase, what I’m saying would not be controversial. It wouldn’t be controversial to point out that this roster sucks and that a large portion of the blame for the team sucking is on Yzerman. Lalonde getting fired and replaced by McLellan isn’t going to change that. This is not going to be a playoff team. Even if they did somehow sneak in, they’d be swept and none of the games would be particularly close. This roster is still fundamentally broken. Yzerman screwed up big time with this roster. Lalonde just made it worse. You’re still likely going to be seeing a lot of bad hockey this season. It should just be more entertaining.
What I’m saying is: in any other fanbase, if a coach fired two head coaches, it would be seen as “Put up or shut up” time. This season should be, at bare minimum, about setting the standard and no longer accepting losing. I don’t care about the playoffs this year. I just want to see this team go out there and play with passion. Show that they will no longer accept losing. Next season, though, should be a “Playoffs or bust” year. This is what every other fanbase would expect. I see no reason why Red Wings fans should expect anything less. If you’re going to respond to me with complaints about lottery luck, please go whine to someone else. I wrote about why this shouldn’t be an excuse anymore last month. At some point, you have to create your own luck. The Red Wings haven’t done so. The excuses need to be over. The time to start holding Yzerman to the standards of any other executive needs to start now. If not now, when? No, seriously. This isn’t rhetorical. I actually want to know. Give me a timeline. Be specific. If you give me a vague answer, I will have no choice but to see you as a deeply unserious person.
One last thing to those who will call me reactionary and say I lack patience: there is a thing called “too much patience”. I’ve set out my standards and I would consider acceptable, and did it very clearly. Will you do so for when your patience will run out? I doubt it. Props to you if you do, though. Like, genuinely, I will have a lot of respect for you if you do.
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