MLive’s Ansar Khan took note of Red Wings coach Todd McLellan’s comments regarding the coaching staff’s decision to name Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond as the team’s alternate captains:
“When I got here last year, (Dylan) Larkin was the captain, but we had six, seven rotating A’s. I didn’t even know who wore them on any given night,” coach Todd McLellan said. “We’re Original Six. All my years here (previously as an assistant coach from 2005-2008), there was clear definition of who was going to (wear the A), but that didn’t prevent, you know, when Nik Kronwall was a younger player when I was here or whoever else was around that group, Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby, they didn’t wear A’s, but they led. And that’s what we’re going with.”
McLellan said the leadership group includes many more players. Veterans such as Patrick Kane, Ben Chiarot, Andrew Copp, Alex DeBrincat and J.T. Compher all have worn the ‘A’ at one time or another or are looked upon as leaders.
“I expect our younger letter-wearers to lean on Patrick Kane and Copp and Compher and Chiarot and who else had them last year,” McLellan said. “They all have good experience. And the ones that were wearing them, I don’t expect them to change one bit. They’ve been great. So, I think we’re in a good spot.”
McLellan also made a surprising comment about the ways in which the coaching staff interacts with the players:
“Every coaching staff gets to determine who the leadership group is, and inevitably, it’s ‘Well, we can’t leave him out,’ so you add another guy in, and pretty soon three quarters of your team is in the leadership group. You may as well have the rest of them in on it.
“I don’t have leadership meetings where we bring guys in. If I or our staff doesn’t have a good handle of what’s going on with the team and we need to meet, then shame on us. We’re doing a poor job of communicating every day, so I think a lot of the leadership stuff is done that way. We meet individually with players on a regular basis, whether it’s casual in the meal room, whether it’s official in an office. So, everybody does it differently.”
Continued (paywall)
Update: Here’s more from the Free Press’s Helene St. James:
“When I got here last year, I knew Larkin was the captain, but we had six, seven rotating A’s,” McLellan said. “I didn’t even know who wore them on any given night.
“We’re Original Six. All my years here (as an assistant coach), and it was a clear definition of who was going to go.”
After previous captain Henrik Zetterberg retired in 2018, the Wings went a year without a captain, with plans to name Larkin to the role ahead of 2019-20. Then Yzerman came in, and he wanted to get to know the players better before making an announcement. That led to a period where the Wings used three A’s, rotating among players including Luke Glendening, Justin Abdelkader and Frans Nielsen. In recent season, the rotation has included Ben Chiarot, Andrew Copp and Patrick Kane.
McLellan made it clear leadership is expected from the whole team, not just the letter-wearers.
“Those younger players are still evolving in that role, and they’ve got a lot of help around them,” McLellan said. “I expect our younger letter wearers to lean on them. They all have good experience. And the ones that were wearing them, I don’t expect them to change one bit. So I think we’re in a good spot.”
