Former Oilers head coach McLellan completes career circle back behind Detroit bench

So when Steve Yzerman called former Detroit assistant coach Todd McLellan a month ago, looking to make a head coaching change behind the Wings bench, replacing Derek Lalonde, the unemployed McLellan was all ears.

Just as Ken Hitchcock has always been, with all of his NHL assignments.

Completing the circle? You bet for McLellan, who started with the Wings 20 years ago before leaving for his first head job with San Jose in 2008, moved to the Oilers in 2015, then on to Los Angeles in 2019, before being a front-runner for the vacant Columbus job last summer, but it didn’t come off. He was watching NHL games on TV, lots of them, when Yzerman rang.

McLellan, 57, likely still had Red Wings’ clothing in the back of his closet for his first NHL coaching gig 20 years ago when Mike Babcock was the head coach and Stevie Y was the team captain.

“You know what … I still had some of that stuff around, but a lot of it has the Stanley Cup logo on it because that was my last year there, all those memories, and you don’t get rid of that,” said McLellan, who has the current Wings team rolling with an 11-4-1 record in his 15 games, well past the coaching change “bump” that usually happens for half a dozen games.

He immediately saw that the team spirit had to improve. From afar, he saw the slumped shoulders after losses, and the fight to win ebbing. That’s much better, now, although they’re still out of a playoff spot with 32 games left.

But back to all the places he’s been and gone, all the team gear.

“As the years go on and you belong to a number of NHL organizations, all of a sudden that stuff becomes, uh, a painting shirt,” he said.

Or they don’t fit the body anymore?

“Yeah, that, too,” laughed McLellan.

“More than anything, with all the organizations, it’s the memories, the good people you meet and the players you coach.”