When Red Wings coach Todd McLellan spoke with the media today, he emphasized that, as training camp gives way to the Red & White Game, and a looming slate of 8 exhibition games to be played over the course of only 12 nights, the Red Wings’ bench boss wants his team to push itself to play harder, faster, smarter, and much more intense.
The Hockey News’s Michael Whitaker took note of McLellan’s remarks as to whether the Wings’ players have heeded his message to “play effing hockey” yet:
“I’d like to think they have, but we’re going to need to see them play against someone wearing a different color to really determine that,” McLellan said. “They can’t just skate around and think their way through games. They’re really good instinctual players; I think we have a really good skating team, and if we’re riding the brake, that’s for our veterans. If we’re riding the brake, we’re not going to give ourselves a chance.”
The Red Wings began turning things around almost immediately after McLellan was hired on December 26, aside from a 5-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs the following day, when he hadn’t yet had time to run a full practice.
Their intensity increased, their focus seemed renewed, and suddenly they resembled the team that held a nine-point lead at the playoff cutoff in February 2024, rather than the club that stumbled to a 13-17-4 start in the 2024-25 season.
While the Red Wings ultimately fell short of securing a playoff berth last season, McLellan’s overall record since taking over the head coaching duties (26-18-4) would translate into a 96 point total over the course of 82 games, which would have been sufficient to claim the second overall Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference.
In order to avoid a similar lull in the month of March like what they’ve experienced in the last two seasons, the Red Wings will need to, as McLellan put it, “play with our foot on the gas”.
“We’ve got to push the gas pedal and get after teams,” he said. “Obviously, there’s areas for improvement – penalty kill, defensively, we can’t give up that many goals, but we’ve got to play with our foot on the gas.”
Still can’t believe they play 8 exhibition games. It should be 5 max.
Most important to me is how we finish. As we’ve seen the past few seasons (and currently with the Tigers), I care much more about the games in March than October. Obviously you don’t want to put yourself in a deep hole, but the schedule is rough early on so a 6-6 record in October wouldn’t be the end of the world.