The Hockey News’s Adam Proteau’s working his way through ranking the NHL’s top 32 coaches, and today, Proteau suggests that Red Wings coach Todd McLellan is “on the hot seat” because the Red Wings have underachieved over the course of McLellan’s 1.5 year tenure behind Detroit’s bench:
17 – Todd McLellan, Detroit Red Wings
McLellan has more NHL experience than virtually anyone, and he’s ranked this high in part because he has 1,274 regular-season games of experience under his belt. He’s returned to the Red Wings organization he won a Stanley Cup with as an assistant in 2007-08, and McLellan would be rated higher on this list if it weren’t for Detroit’s struggles since he took over the reins in December of 2024.
The Red Wings finished sixth in the Atlantic Division in both of the past two seasons, but this year’s abysmal late-season collapse really hurts McLellan’s stock on this list. McLellan has coached four different teams – the Wings, Kings, Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks – and he’s under the gun to turn things around in Detroit, especially now that Detroit GM Steve Yzerman has been fired.
McLellan is a name-brand coach, but that won’t save him if the Wings don’t get into the playoffs next season.
Continued; I would suggest that coach McLellan does not exist in a vacuum, and that the Red Wings’ consecutive late-season flops are not simply “on the coach.” The Red Wings’ players did not deliver, nor did management sufficiently address the organization’s shortcomings through mid-season moves.
Everybody pulls their rope, so to speak, but over-assessing blame on a coach who’s worked his ass off to turn the Red Wings’ ship around feels a little “on the nose.”
