Red Wings players further bury former coach Derek Lalonde with latest comments after 6th straight win
Photo credit: https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nhl/red-wings/2025/02/03/detroit-red-wings-nhl-playoff-picture-todd-mclellan/78166765007/
The difference between Todd McLellan and Derek Lalonde couldn't be more clear as evidenced by Detroit's results, and the Red Wings players have taken notice.
The Detroit Red Wings were essentially on life support in late December with a 13-17-4 record, which was tied for the worst in the Eastern Conference with the divisional foe Buffalo Sabres.
General manager Steve Yzerman decided to make a badly-needed change behind the bench, dismissing Derek Lalonde and assistant Bob Boughner and replacing them with Todd McLellan and Trent Yawney.
McLellan returned to the organization that he helped win the Stanley Cup as an assistant in 2008, and has now led them to an incredible turnaround. Under McLellan, the Red Wings have the best points percentage in the NHL since December 29.
After Alex DeBrincat scored to give the Red Wings at 3-2 OT win over the Canucks, they won their 14th game under McLellan for an overall record of 14-4-1 since he took over and are now in a Wild Card playoff position.
Winning games in which they didn't perform at their best certainly feels good, .
We're feeling good. We're able to win games that maybe isn't our best performance.
It's great. I think we knew we had it in this room, I think we needed a bit of a fresh start and kind of a restart. It feels like a new season. We're winning games where maybe we haven't played our best and that's what good teams do. We have to keep that up.
As Patrick Kane said, it's an "awesome" feeling.
That's awesome. I knew we were one point out coming in, so - big win. It wasn't the prettiest, but huge win for the team. We're finding ways to win right now.
| POLL | ||
FEVRIER 3 | 244 ANSWERS Red Wings players further bury former coach Derek Lalonde with latest comments after 6th straight win Are the Red Wings playing better hockey or just with more confidence since the coaching change? | ||
| Playing better hockey | 166 | 68 % |
| Playing more confidently | 78 | 32 % |
| List of polls | ||
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