Kings hire Todd McLellan as head coach
- Thread starter Taro Tsujimoto
- Start date
ICanMotteBelieveIt
Registered User
- Jan 11, 2013
- 8,443
- 4,987
Anaheim4ever
Registered User
- Jun 15, 2017
- 8,869
- 5,440
But he's a good coach for a rebuilding/tanking team as you don't got to worry about him choking in the playoffs.
Choked away the presidents trophy in 2009 playoffs to a california division rival.
Choked away a 3-0 series lead in 2014 to a california division rival.
After he was fired the Sharks made it to the cup finals.
Also the only coach in history to lose 2 seperate playoff series to Randy Frickin Carlyle.
Kimota
ROY DU NORD!!!
Wasn’t coaching so much as it was Cam Talbot going supernova and being a top 5 goalie that season.
The Panther
Registered User
I think this might be good for L.A. (I'm a little surprised, as I thought McLellan going to Buffalo made sense -- he's good at coming in, cleaning up the defence, and getting on with young players -- but the L.A. thing seems more random.) Anyway, McLellan is a very good coach overall, as all the evidence shows.
Since he was a long-term tenure coach with San Jose, he eventually got all the blame for their lack of a Stanley Cup. I'm not saying he didn't have his flaws as a coach in San Jose (and he certainly did in Edmonton), but his record is actually incredibly impressive. Let's leave our herd-like negativity at the door and look at some of the facts:
- his 1st year in San Jose, the team improved 9 points and finished 1st overall
- his 2nd year, the team finished 2nd overall and 1st in the West
- for his first six (of seven total) seasons coaching San Jose (2008 to 2014), the team had the 3rd-best winning percentage in the NHL and the very best in the Western conference
So, that's like, really, really good. His win-percentage in San Jose was .637. For comparison, that's better than Glen Sather in Edmonton and almost the same as Mike Babcock in Detroit.
San Jose did disappoint in the playoffs, but they still had three .500 or better playoff showings in their six appearances. They went to the Conference Final in 2010 and 2011 before losing to mini-Dynasty Chicago and then the President's trophy team (Vancouver), respectively. In 2014, they lost to Cup champion L.A. (but took them to seven games).
As an Oilers' fan, I was very happy with what he got from the team his first season and his second season. Only the third season was a big disappointment, but that was when GM Chiarelli started gutting the team and they had only AHL wingers and most of their NHL defenceman (all three) were injured. His first year in Edmonton (McDavid's rookie year), the team improved by 8 points and shaved 40 goals-against off (this despite having lost their only star winger, Taylor Hall). The next season they got 103 points, which remains the club's only playoff appearance since Chris Pronger played for them. This second season, they were nearly one goal-per-game better defensively than the last season before he arrived. And their playoff effort in 2017 was impressive (if not for some sketchy officiating in game six vs. Anaheim, the Oilers might have been in the Conference Final).
Only his final season in San Jose (his seventh) and his final season in Edmonton (2017-18, his third) can stand as real disappointments, and even his last year in San Jose the team still had a winning record and won 40 games; nor did he do any worse in his brief tenure with Edmonton this season than Ken Hitchcock did.
The one thing that had Edmonton fans -- including me -- scratching our heads was when he would repeatedly put Milan Lucic on the ice with one minute left in tied or 1-goal-deficit games. Lucic, as you may know, is currently averaging one goal every 12 thousand games played, but McLellan would always put him out instead of... well, anyone else would have been more logical.
A few foibles aside, his record as an NHL coach is enormously impressive. And don't forget before that he was assistant coach of Detroit, winning the Cup there.
So, I think this is probably a good hire for L.A. The problem is, I'm not sure a young and hungry Scotty Bowman could do much with the Kings' current line-up. But don't worry because McLellan is accustomed to coaching thin, desperate line-ups.
Since he was a long-term tenure coach with San Jose, he eventually got all the blame for their lack of a Stanley Cup. I'm not saying he didn't have his flaws as a coach in San Jose (and he certainly did in Edmonton), but his record is actually incredibly impressive. Let's leave our herd-like negativity at the door and look at some of the facts:
- his 1st year in San Jose, the team improved 9 points and finished 1st overall
- his 2nd year, the team finished 2nd overall and 1st in the West
- for his first six (of seven total) seasons coaching San Jose (2008 to 2014), the team had the 3rd-best winning percentage in the NHL and the very best in the Western conference
So, that's like, really, really good. His win-percentage in San Jose was .637. For comparison, that's better than Glen Sather in Edmonton and almost the same as Mike Babcock in Detroit.
San Jose did disappoint in the playoffs, but they still had three .500 or better playoff showings in their six appearances. They went to the Conference Final in 2010 and 2011 before losing to mini-Dynasty Chicago and then the President's trophy team (Vancouver), respectively. In 2014, they lost to Cup champion L.A. (but took them to seven games).
As an Oilers' fan, I was very happy with what he got from the team his first season and his second season. Only the third season was a big disappointment, but that was when GM Chiarelli started gutting the team and they had only AHL wingers and most of their NHL defenceman (all three) were injured. His first year in Edmonton (McDavid's rookie year), the team improved by 8 points and shaved 40 goals-against off (this despite having lost their only star winger, Taylor Hall). The next season they got 103 points, which remains the club's only playoff appearance since Chris Pronger played for them. This second season, they were nearly one goal-per-game better defensively than the last season before he arrived. And their playoff effort in 2017 was impressive (if not for some sketchy officiating in game six vs. Anaheim, the Oilers might have been in the Conference Final).
Only his final season in San Jose (his seventh) and his final season in Edmonton (2017-18, his third) can stand as real disappointments, and even his last year in San Jose the team still had a winning record and won 40 games; nor did he do any worse in his brief tenure with Edmonton this season than Ken Hitchcock did.
The one thing that had Edmonton fans -- including me -- scratching our heads was when he would repeatedly put Milan Lucic on the ice with one minute left in tied or 1-goal-deficit games. Lucic, as you may know, is currently averaging one goal every 12 thousand games played, but McLellan would always put him out instead of... well, anyone else would have been more logical.
A few foibles aside, his record as an NHL coach is enormously impressive. And don't forget before that he was assistant coach of Detroit, winning the Cup there.
So, I think this is probably a good hire for L.A. The problem is, I'm not sure a young and hungry Scotty Bowman could do much with the Kings' current line-up. But don't worry because McLellan is accustomed to coaching thin, desperate line-ups.
Last edited:
He was not a scape goat, he was part of the problem. Todd's biggest faults is his pride and stubbornness. He would very rarely stand up for his players, adapt his game plan, line match etc. Look to his stupid power play for an example.
This does not absolve the rest of the Oiler management but Todd did Edmonton zero favours. I was initially happy to have Todd as a coach but after a couple of years it became painfully obvious that he had major flaws
Yeah teams with 100 Million plus operating budgets should just hire newbies and roll the dice every time. No reason to hire someone that understands the game and can handle a room full of young millionaires for 250 days of training and travel. Why not just put an add on Kijiji.
Bandit
Registered User
PositiveCashFlow
Snowmen fall to earth unassembled
- Jul 10, 2007
- 5,776
- 2,610
Nasti
Registered User
They won the Smythe Division in 1991.
Boy Hedican
Homer Jr, friends call me Ho-Ju
not sure if you intended that TMac was here for these, but Ron Wilson was coach during Cheech & Thornton's magical year.
Name Nameless
Don't go more than 10 seconds back on challenges
- Apr 12, 2017
- 6,562
- 3,039
Name Nameless
Don't go more than 10 seconds back on challenges
- Apr 12, 2017
- 6,562
- 3,039
I hope he does a better job than he did in Edmonton, the Oilers were a mess on the ice system wise
MMC
Global Moderator
unicornpig
Registered User
- Dec 8, 2017
- 3,649
- 5,320
Dicdonya
Registered User
- Jul 21, 2011
- 4,441
- 2,588
As a Sharks fan, I am not thrilled about this, but not upset either. Tmac got way more hate/blame for EDM than he deserved, and was a predictable, yet fine coach for SJ. Probably will help that he knows quite a few of the LA guys real well from coaching against them for a few years.
It's kind of amazing that Kopitar has been in the league 13 years and there are still people, especially long-time NHL people, who mispronounce his first name. Seemingly no one at NBC pronounces it correctly, either, so McLellan is hardly alone, but he should probably learn quickly if he's going to be his coach.
Last edited:
It's like that in the NBA, NFL, and MLB too. How many teams has Dusty Baker been allowed to manage? lol
