Yzerman confirms McLellan & staff return for next season

10 years out of the playoffs and the answer is continuity. of course it is.

I'm split. McLellan didn't get a real roster, and the structure improved in the second half: better neutral-zone gaps, the forecheck got more aggressive. But the power play and the in-game line matching are still a problem and have been for a decade everywhere he's coached. Continuity for a young team has value. Continuity with a 28th-ranked PP does not.

@sam_t87 said:

the power play and the in game line matching are still a problem

THIS. its been the same umbrella for 3 years and it doesnt move. same guy in teh same spot every time. if your keeping him you HAVE to change the PP coach at minimum. you cant run it back unchanged

the staff returns UNCHANGED after a decade of missing. somewhere a PP coach is collecting a check to draw the same play that doesnt work. love it.

People want a coaching change as if the coach is why a roster with no 2C and a young D missed the playoffs. The kids developed under McLellan. Seider, Edvinsson, Raymond, Kasper all improved. You don't burn a good development coach because the GM hasn't finished building the roster. Patience.

In my day a coach who missed the playoffs once was gone by Easter. Ten years? Scotty Bowman would've been run out of town. Different world.

I'll defend continuity ONLY because the alternative is the third coaching reset of the rebuild and that's how you stay stuck. But understand the STANDARD: if this team isn't in a playoff race by Christmas, McLellan should not see the All-Star break. The leash is short now. It has to be.

Fair take Hank. From the D side, McLellan's structure genuinely got the young pairs into defensible positions by March. The breakouts cleaned up. That's real and it's why I'm OK with him back. But sam and andy are right that the PP is inexcusable and a staff tweak there is the bare minimum. 🙏

firing the coach who developed kasper and the kids would be so on brand for this fanbase honestly. the young guys are GOOD now and a lot of that is coaching. keep him give him a roster

continuity is just a fancy word for nothing changed

people only watch the puck so they miss how much better the d zone coverage got after the all star break. the gaps tightened up and the kids stopped getting hemmed in. thats coaching. the PP is bad but the 5v5 structure is the best its been in years honestly

To put numbers on the disagreement: 5v5 expected goals share climbed into the low-50s in the second half, which is genuinely good and supports keeping him. The PP, however, finished bottom-5 by xG-per-60 for the third straight year. So both camps are right: the even-strength coaching is an asset, the special teams coaching is a liability. The correct move is keep McLellan, change the PP assistant. The team did neither.

That's the thread in one post, fenwick. Even-strength: keep. Special teams: change. The frustration isn't really "McLellan stays," it's "McLellan stays AND the PP staff stays." That second part is the indefensible one.

I'll only say this: Bowman won here with patience and a long view, but he also never tolerated a unit that quit on the fundamentals. A power play that stands still would have offended him deeply. Keep the man, fix the unit. Both things can be true.

all im asking for is ONE new voice on teh PP. thats it. one. is that so much after ten years

mclellan stays, kids take a step, we make the playoffs, and all you doomers delete your accounts. LGRW.

@WingsInFour said:

all you doomers delete your accounts

adding this to the folder.