McLellan Wants Red Wings to Play ‘Harder, Faster, Smarter’

GM Steve Yzerman said at the start of the season he thought the Detroit Red Wings, if they stayed healthy and players live up to expectations, could compete for an Eastern Conference wild card spot.

“And we’re not there,” he said.

That is the simplest explanation for Yzerman’s decision to fire Derek Lalonde and replace him with NHL veteran coach Todd McLellan.

“Recently just watching our team play, the spirit was zapped out,” Yzerman said. “Even sitting back watching our coaching staff, everyone’s frustrated, everyone. It’s not like they’re not trying to win, not trying to figure it out, but you can just see it in the players’ faces. “

Yzerman was in the final season of his NHL career when McLellan was the Red Wings’ assistant coach. They have stayed in touch through the years. Yzerman has said more than once that he prefers to hire people he knows.

“I was looking to hire the best coach I possibly could,” Yzerman said. “And I believe Todd is the best coach available to us today.”

McLellan unquestionably viewed Yzerman as a friend. “I’ve talked to him when I was in San Jose, Edmonton, LA, regularly in the summer. And it’s not always hockey,” McLellan said. ” We talk about families and what’s going on in our world, so that part of the relationship is good.”

Harder, Faster, Smarter

McLellan hasn’t even had a legitimate practice with his new team. It’s not like you will see the Red Wings employ different tactics tonight against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“(Assistant coach) Trent Yawney and Todd McLellan aren’t coming in here and waving a wand and changing forechecks and neutral zones and D zone coverage and power play,” McLellan said. “We just don’t have time. But what we’ve asked the players to do is to play harder, to play faster and a little bit smarter.”

McClellan also will be looking at improving team morale.

“The things that Todd wants to bring in are simple things,” Detroit captain Dylan Larkin said. “But bringing team spirit and life back to us, and that’s something that we’ve been lacking and something that as a player, when you go out there and you don’t have it for whatever reason, like we have the last week and multiple times throughout this season, it’s not the way I want to play. It’s not the way I feel the guys up here want to play or guys in that locker room want to play.”