Todd McLellan, who won the Stanley Cup as a Detroit Red Wings assistant, is returning to the team to try to get it back to the playoffs.
McLellan, 57, was hired as the franchise’s 29th head coach and signed to a multi-year contract on Thursday after the team fired coach Derek Lalonde.
The sliding Red Wings have dropped to seventh place in the Atlantic Division and sit eight points out of a playoff spot with 48 games to go, heading into Friday’s resumption of the NHL season after its holiday break.
Here’s what to know about the Red Wings’ new head coach:
Todd McLellan has been with the Red Wings before
He was an assistant with the Red Wings from 2005-08, overseeing the team’s forwards and the power play. The Red Wings won the Stanley Cup title in his final season there, and he left to become head coach of the San Jose Sharks.
Todd McLellan coached Sharks, Oilers and Kings
The Red Wings will be McLellan’s fourth NHL team as head coach.
∎ San Jose Sharks (2008-15): He’s the franchise’s all-time leader in games coached (540), wins (311), points (688) and postseason games coached (62). The Sharks won the Pacific Division in his first three seasons and were the top regular-season team in his first season. McLellan went 311-163-66 in the regular season. He went to the playoffs the first six of his seven seasons in San Jose, reaching the conference final in 2010 and 2011. He missed the playoffs in his last season there.
∎ Edmonton Oilers (2015-19): He was Connor McDavid’s first NHL coach. McLellan went 123-119-34 in the regular season, making the playoffs once in his second season after a 33-point improvement. The Oilers went to the second round that year, but they missed the playoffs in his other full seasons, and he was fired during the 2018-19 season with a 9-10-1 record.
∎ Los Angeles Kings (2019-24): McLellan went 164-130-44 in the regular season and reached the playoffs in his third and fourth seasons, losing in the first round both times. He was fired in February with the Kings sitting in a wild-card slot but having won only three times in their previous 17 games
Todd McLellan’s career record as a head coach
He is 598-412-134 in the regular season and 42-46 in the postseason. He made the playoffs nine times in his 16 NHL seasons.
Todd McLellan’s accomplishments
His 598 regular-season wins place him 24th in NHL history and sixth among active coaches. He has reached 50 or more win three times and 100 or more points six times.
He was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2008-09 and 2016-17 and coached at two NHL All-Star Games (2009, 2012).