Daily Faceoff’s Scott Maxwell examines teams which have replaced their head coaches over the course of the 2024-2025 season thus far, and here’s what he has to say about the Red Wings:
Detroit Red Wings (Out: Derek Lalonde; In: Todd McLellan)
Record: 13-17-4 (28th) | 15-5-1 (3rd)
5v5 GF%: 45.08% (26th) | 46.18% (24th)
5v5 xGF%: 44.39% (30th) | 47.72% (24th)
5v5 PDO: 1.005 (12th) | 0.984 (25th)There’s always talk about the bump in a team’s performance after a coaching change, but that hasn’t been the case in our first three examples. All three teams saw minimal improvement in their records under their new head coaches in, and while they maybe got a few wins off the hop, we’ve since seen them cool down. The Detroit Red Wings are a significantly different example.
While the Red Wings’ issues are also due to the construction of their roster, Derek Lalonde wasn’t getting anything out of the team, and that’s been proven even more since Todd McLellan took over. Not only have the Red Wings seen slight improvements under the hood (which, like [Jim] Montgomery’s Blues, still aren’t amazing numbers, but it feels like the most he can extract from the roster), the change has given new life to Detroit’s season, and their 15-5-1 record since McLellan was hired has put them in a playoff spot up this point.
That said, McLellan is the most recent hire, so we could see the Red Wings cool off and eventually have a record similar to the other three coaches. At the same time, McLellan already has only one win behind Montgomery with the Blues and four behind Sacco with the Bruins, and that comes with significantly fewer losses (McLellan has only six while the other two have 18 each). There are still plenty of issues with this Wings team, but it does feel like they at least have a coach who can get the most out of their roster when they get there.
Continued; ah yes, digs on the Red Wings (fair or unfair) and Daily Faceoff. It’s a marriage of sorts.
