Red Wings Announce Coaching Change, Hire Mike Babcock's Protege Ahead of Rematch with Leafs
The Detroit Red Wings have officially announced a coaching change ahead of Friday's rematch with the Maple Leafs and the new coach, Todd McLellan has strong ties to former Leafs and Red Wings coach Mike Babcock.
Just a day before the end of the holiday break, and just one day after Christmas Day, the Detroit Red Wings have announced that they have fired head coach Derek Lalonde and Assistant Bob Boughner.
It's a tough time to lose your job, but with the Red Wings desperately trying to do whatever they can to right the ship, GM Steve Yzerman felt that now was as good a time as any to steer things in a different direction, hiring veteran coach Todd McLellan and Assistant Trent Yawney to replace Lalonde and Boughner, respectively.
McLellan, a former head coach in Los Angeles, Edmonton and San Jose, was also a former Red Wings assistant coach during the infamous Mike Babcock era, as NHL.com's Dave A McCarthy pointed out on Thursday.
McLellan and Babcock won a Stanley Cup together in Detroit back in 2008, and following their success together, McLellan went on to become a head coach in San Jose, leading the Sharks to back-to-back Western Conference Finals appearances in 2010 and 2011.
Babcock was hired to coach the Maple Leafs back in 2015, but coached less than 4 and a half seasons in Toronto before being terminated and replaced by then Marlies head coach Sheldon Keefe.
Babcock's character has been in question for much of his coaching career, but really took a hit when the infamous Mitch Marner "list" story from his rookie year came to light.
Meanwhile, Yawney was an assistant under McLellan during the 2018-19 season in Edmonton and the pair also spent 5 seasons together with the Los Angeles Kings before McLellan was relieved of his duties last season. Yawney was also an Assistant on McLellan's staff with the Sharks when they made the Conference Finals twice, as mentioned above.
As far as how this may impact the Leafs, as we've seen on a number of occasions, teams facing a coaching change tend to have a fire lit under them, so we should expect the Red Wings to come out hot against the Leafs tomorrow night.
The Leafs recalled goaltender Matt Murray on Thursday, and also sent rookie goalie Dennis Hildeby back to the Toronto Marlies. It is believed that Murray will draw the start against the Red Wings, so he'll have to be on his A-game to avoid the Leafs losing in Detroit, just as they did back on December 14th.
The Leafs and Red Wings are currently at 1-1 in the season series. With the Leafs having lost two games in a row to the Jets and Islanders, they'll want to avoid dropping a 3rd straight game, especially with the Panthers now moving up into 1st place in the Atlantic Division with 46 points -- just 2 points up on the Leafs, who sit in 2nd with 44 points on the season.
Detroit is 13-17-4 this season with 30 points -- good for 2nd last in the Atlantic Division. There's no doubt they'll be hungry for wins after the coaching change.
