The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau offers a list of 5 coaches with “the most to prove” in the NHL this upcoming season, and it comes as no surprise that Red Wings coach Todd McLellan is on Proteau’s list:
Todd McLellan, Detroit Red Wings
When McLellan took over from fired Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde in late December of 2024, he initially had a stellar run with the Wings. But the longer the season played out, the worse Detroit looked, and the Red Wings failed to make the playoffs for the ninth straight season.
Needless to say, the pressure on McLellan to turn the Wings into a playoff team will be massive this coming year. McLellan has 17 seasons as an NHL coach under his belt, so if anyone has the experience to weather any storm the Red Wings will be facing next year, it’s him. But Detroit GM Steve Yzerman also is facing a ton of pressure to get this Wings team back into the post-season – and that means nobody’s job in Detroit is safe, McLellan’s job included.
Coaching in the highly competitive Atlantic Division means McLellan’s work is cut out for him. So the pressure on McLellan couldn’t be more evident, and he has just one goal – lead this group into at least a wild-card berth in the Eastern Conference.
Continued; we all know that, barring a couple of trades for top-six forward and a top-four defender, the current roster is going to be expected to step up significantly on both collective and individual bases…
But I don’t think that the Wings are going to fire Yzerman as long as the Ilitches own the team, and I don’t think that Todd McLellan’s job is in jeopardy going into his first full season in Detroit.
Does he face pressure? Hell yes, quite a bit of it. But he’s not going to be fired if the Wings flop.
