Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde turned 52 on Sunday, entering his third season with Detroit
Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde celebrated his birthday on Sunday. The Brasher Falls, New York native turned 52.
Many birthdays ago in 1995, Lalonde got his start coaching as an assistant coach for North Adams State College in the NCAA Division III circuit. He spent seven seasons with four different D-III schools before making the jump to Division I as an assistant coach with Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. In his first season there, Lalonde coached Hobey Baker Award winner Chris Kunitz. He spent four years with the Bulldogs before moving to the University of Denver for another five.
Lalonde got his start head coaching in 2011, when he became head coach and general manager of the Green Bay Gamblers in the USHL, a junior league for mostly college hockey commits. His first season, he coached his team to a Clark Cup championship, a roster that included Utah Hockey Club star Nick Schmaltz and recent Red Wings free agent acquisition Sheldon Dries.
Stops in ECHL Toledo and AHL Iowa led to Lalonde's first NHL job as an assistant coach under Tampa Bay's Jon Cooper. After four seasons there and two Stanley Cups, Lalonde became head coach of the Red Wings shortly before his 50th birthday. Now, entering his third birthday with Detroit, Lalonde is 76-69-19 as a head coach.
Lalonde shares his birthday with a few notable NHL alumni. Geoff Courtnall, who played for five different teams across a 17-year career, was born August 18. So was early 2000s Florida Panthers enforcer Peter Worrell and former Red Wing Forbes Kennedy, who played in Detroit from 1957 to 1960.