Former Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde broke his silence and addressed his firing publicly for the first time on Saturday night.
Lalonde, who was fired on Thursday following the Red Wings’ 13-17-4 start to the season, expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to coach in Detroit and optimism about the team’s trajectory.
“Very appreciative of the opportunity,” Lalonde said in a statement read during Sportsnet’s broadcast in the “Saturday Headlines” segment of Hockey Night in Canada. “Incredibly thankful [general manager] Steve Yzerman gave me a chance to coach a team like the Detroit Red Wings.
You saw the passion of the fan base 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 joined the Red Wings in 2022 and was tasked with guiding the team out of its rebuilding phase and back into playoff contention.
Last campaign, Detroit narrowly missed the postseason, losing a tiebreaker to the Washington Capitals and extending its playoff drought to eight consecutive years.
With the team struggling early in the 2024–25 campaign and the odds of making it to the playoffs dwindling, Yzerman decided to make the coaching change.
The Red Wings general manager cited mounting frustration among players and staff as key reasons for the decision.
“Everyone is frustrated,” Yzerman said in a press conference held on Friday. “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.
