Who is Todd McLellan, the new head coach of the Detroit Red Wings? What you should know

Todd McLellan, who won the Stanley Cup as an assistant with the Detroit Red Wings, is returning to the team to try to make it back to the playoffs.

McLellan, 57, was hired as the franchise’s 29th head coach, signing a multiyear deal Thursday after the team fired coach Derek Lalonde.

The sliding Red Wings have fallen to seventh place in the Atlantic Division and are eight points clear of a playoff spot with 48 games left, ready to begin the resumption of the NHL season on Friday after the holiday break.

Here’s what you should know about the Red Wings’ new head coach:

Todd McLellan has been with the Red Wings before

From 2005 to 2008, he was an assistant with the Red Wings, overseeing the team’s forwards and power play. In his final season there, the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup title and he left to become head coach of the San Jose Sharks.

Todd McLellan coached the Sharks, Oilers and Kings

The Red Wings will be McLellan’s fourth NHL team as head coach.

∎ San Jose Sharks (2008-15): He is the franchise’s all-time leader in games coached (540), wins (311), points (688) and postseason games coached (62). The Sharks won the Pacific Division in his first three seasons and were the best regular season team in his first season. McLellan posted a 311-163-66 record in the regular season. He made the playoffs in the first six of his seven seasons in San Jose and reached the conference finals in 2010 and 2011. He missed the playoffs in his final season there.

∎ Edmonton Oilers (2015-19): He was Connor McDavid’s first NHL coach. McLellan posted a 123-119-34 regular season record and made the playoffs once in his second season after improving by 33 points. The Oilers reached the second round that year, but missed the playoffs in his other full seasons and he was fired in the 2018-19 season with a 9-10-1 record.

∎ Los Angeles Kings (2019–24): McLellan posted a 164-130-44 regular season record and reached the playoffs in his third and fourth seasons, losing in the first round both times. He was fired in February when the Kings were sitting in a wild-card spot but had won just three times in their last 17 games

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Who is Todd McLellan, the new head coach of the Detroit Red Wings? What you should know

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