McLellan Makes Voice Heard at First Red Wings Practice

DETROIT—At high noon Saturday, Todd McLellan held his first true practice as head coach of the Detroit Red Wings.  The defining feature was McLellan's stentorian voice, barking out instructions as he ran his new charges through a skate of just over an hour, for obvious reasons, the season's longest.  In keeping with his assessment of the previous night's loss to Toronto as "mechanical," at one point his voice boomed out, "Play f—ing hockey.  You've done it your whole lives!"

"He's got a presence when he talks and a strong voice, so I think that's good for our team," said winger Patrick Kane after practice.  "Trying to learn new things, talk about it, but also be able to hear and understand everything that's going on I think is a positive."

McLellan said the night prior that the priorities would have to be defending entries and the penalty kill, and today's practice reflected those emphases.  Detroit opened with a focus on sorting the opposing rush on the back check, then spent much of the second half of the session drilling its struggling penalty kill.

When asked after the skate whether the day had felt like training camp, McLellan replied, "In some sense it is, but we don't have as a staff the summer to plan for it, and we don't have the time to work on everything."  He credited Detroit's video staff for the work it did to merge the Red Wings' video library with the one he and his longtime lieutenant Trent Yawney brought with them to help the session run smoothly.

"It's not like we just go out there and work on something today in practice not knowing what's going on, right?" noted Kane.  "[We] talk about it and [watch] film before, and then you have an understanding, and you go out there and try to execute it to the best of your ability."

On his first day in Detroit Friday, McLellan mentioned the importance of language to getting the group on the same page.  Saturday's practice afforded a chance to begin establishing a shared vocabulary.  "Every coach has their own lingo," defenseman Justin Holl told The Hockey News.  "It's the same stuff, it's just different ways of describing it.  It's just something that you gotta get used to, and we'll clarify as we go.  And he just said ask questions if you don't know.  And I'm sure we'll pick it up pretty quick."

Among the challenges of McLellan's midseason takeover is a general lack of familiarity.  He has coached goaltender Cam Talbot already in Edmonton and Los Angeles, and he also coached a young Dylan Larkin on Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.  However, beyond those two, McLellan has new players to learn and his players must develop a rapport with a new coach.

"That's what his message was...It's a blank slate for everybody," said Holl, when asked about that dynamic.  "We're gonna make our own decisions.  We're gonna do our own evaluation process, and it's a competitive environment for everyone."

McLellan himself embraced the role of coach as pedagogue in discussing the process of establishing a connection with each individual player.  "Teacher in the classroom, you have to get to know your students," he said.  "You can tell there's some players that are a little more hesitant to make contact, whether it's eye or verbal. Others are really relaxed. They have no problem conversing. So you take cues by that, and you know the ones that are easy to talk to, they'll probably continue to be that way. The others, you've got to find different ways to approach. But a simple conversation sometimes gives you an indication of where to go."

After the rigorous portion of the practice wrapped up, the Red Wings moved on to something that was perhaps even more beneficial considering the circumstances: Welcoming a new teammate, Sylvia who joined the group through the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Michigan.  A young defender from Grand Rapids, she skated out to join her new teammates and promptly undressed Talbot with a backhand-forehand move to score a penalty shot goal before being mobbed with celebratory embraces.

"Sometimes we get caught up in this world," Kane said.  "You think the world is ending when you lose a game or you go on a losing streak, and these things kinda bring it back to ground level. You put things in perspective...For any kid, that's gonna be exciting, and I think for us too, it's a great feeling to have her come out and spend some time passing the puck back and forth and talk to her for a little bit."

The word "spirit" has come up repeatedly since McLellan's arrival not yet 48 hours ago—from the coach himself, from general manager Steve Yzerman, and from the players.  Of course the tactical side of McLellan's first practice was essential to getting a season off the rails back on track, but that "great feeling" Sylvia brought with her onto the ice after practice appears just as important, if not more so, for a team looking to break out of its first half doldrums.

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