Detroit Red Wings Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman announced today that the team has named former Los Angeles Kings head coach Todd McLellan the 29th Head Coach in Red Wings history and signed him to a multi-year contract.

Nearly 11 months after being fired by the Kings, McLellan will now coach his fourth NHL team in the Motor City—the same organization with which he started his NHL coaching career. He served as an assistant to Mike Babcock from 2005 to 2008, culminating in a Stanley Cup Championship. Joining McLellan will be Trent Yawney, his right-hand man and defensive coach in Los Angeles.

Under McLellan and Yawney, the Kings solidified themselves as one of the top defensive teams in the NHL from 2021 to 2024. Unlike Jim Hiller, Yawney is a “Todd guy” as the two have similar philosophies regarding team structure and an overall commitment to team defense.

With a record of 164–130–4, McLellan left LA as the fourth winningest coach in franchise history. He deserves praise for bringing a winning structure to a rudderless Kings team in 2021. His legacy in LA, however, will always be defined by the Edmonton Oilers, and more specifically, his inability to make the adjustments necessary to get past them in the first round. In all fairness to McLellan, very few teams have been able to stop the Oilers in the postseason.

Connected to his playoff legacy in Los Angeles will be the polarizing 1–3–1 neutral zone forecheck that was introduced with him at the helm. It’s unclear whether this was strictly a McLellan/Yawney idea, but some evidence suggests that GM Rob Blake was just as responsible for its implementation.

In any case, McLellan’s performance with the team was not good enough. Before his firing, the Kings were sputtering out of control, losing 14 of McLellan's final 17 games in Los Angeles. Even though it was technically Jim Hiller who led the Kings to a third straight first-round exit at the hands of the Oilers, it has been well-documented that McLellan’s systems were still in place then.

In Detroit, McLellan should find himself in a comfortable position. Like in 2021, he is taking over a team that desperately craves winning structure, and again, like in 2021, he will have a good mix of young and veteran talent to lean on. The formula sets up well for McLellan and Yawney to find early success. Nevertheless, just like his previous coaching tenures in the league, McLellan will ultimately be judged on what he can do when the team is prepared to take the next step.

The Kings visit Detroit on January 27th, 2025. It will be the season's final meeting between the two clubs but McLellan’s first against his former team.

THNWeek1222KeithFries

Former Kings Head Coach hired by Red Wings