Derek Lalonde expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to coach the Detroit Red Wings when contacted by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman on Saturday.
"Very appreciative of the opportunity," Lalonde said in a statement issued to Friedman, as read on "Saturday Headlines" on Hockey Night in Canada. "Incredibly thankful Steve Yzerman gave me a chance to coach a team like the Detroit Red Wings. You saw the passion of the fanbase when we made a late run last season, and they will be rewarded. They will be in a good spot, with the great young players they have and the ones that are coming."
Lalonde was fired on Boxing Day and replaced by Todd McLellan, a major change by GM Yzerman more than a third of the way through another disappointing season in the place known as “Hockeytown.”
The move came with the Red Wings on a three-game skid while having lost nine of their last 12. They've lost 21 of their first 34 games this season and are above only the lowly Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference. Detroit has since lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, adding to its slide.
Lalonde was nearly midway through his third season with the Red Wings after winning the Stanley Cup twice as an assistant with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Yzerman inherited Jeff Blashill as coach when he left the Lightning for the Red Wings in 2019 and hired Lalonde in the summer of 2022 with the goal of getting the team back in the playoffs.
Despite signing three-time Stanley Cup champion Patrick Kane in 2023 and re-signing him last off-season, the success has not approached the Red Wings’ glory days, when they won the Cup four times between 1996-97 and 2007-08 — three times with Yzerman as captain and once with him working in the front office. Instead, their playoff drought is on track to reach a ninth year — the second-longest in the league behind Buffalo.
Associate coach Bob Boughner was also fired and Trent Yawney was hired to work on McLellan’s staff as an assistant. McLellan signed a multi-year contract to start his fourth NHL head coaching job after stints with San Jose, Edmonton and Los Angeles.
--with files from The Associated Press
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