Stoney and Jansen interview the Red Wings' new head coach Todd McLellan
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00:00The Wings have a new rallying cry.
00:03Damn right!
00:05Play bleepin' hockey.
00:07New coach Todd McClellan said it and they responded with a win yesterday.
00:12He joins us this morning.
00:13Message received.
00:14Good morning, coach.
00:15Good morning, Jim, Stoney.
00:16How are you guys this morning?
00:17Great.
00:18Doing pretty good.
00:19That's going to be a big marketing deal, don't you think?
00:22I mean, I can see the t-shirts, the hoodies.
00:24Play effin' hockey.
00:25Well, I don't know about that, but the players responded well.
00:30We haven't had a whole lot of time to put a lot of things in play, but the few things
00:35that we worked on, we didn't want to make them mechanical or get in their way, so it
00:39was just an expression.
00:40I didn't think it would take off the way it has, but it has.
00:43Did you, from afar, when watching the Red Wings before you took the job, what were your
00:48impressions of this team?
00:50Well, I think the team was fragile.
00:56You could see that they weren't sure of themselves, and we still aren't.
01:00We've got a lot of work in front of us, but there's young players, there's older players.
01:06A lot of them were underachieving for many different reasons, and I think a reset was
01:12obviously what Steve was looking for and what I'm trying to provide or the staff is trying
01:16to provide, and so far the players have been quite receptive.
01:20What do you say to people who feel like the move was made maybe too late?
01:23Can the season still be salvaged, in your opinion?
01:26Well, I've asked the players to focus on what they're doing when they have the equipment
01:32on, not where we are in the standings, what the win streak or the losing streak is or
01:38anything like that.
01:39We can't change what's happened in the past.
01:40We can only look ahead, and I think they're carrying the weight around of not having been
01:46in the playoffs for X number of years.
01:48Many of them haven't even participated in that.
01:51Some are rookies this year.
01:52Some have only been around for two years, so that's not all on them.
01:58Organizationally, we think that we can push, but the most important thing we have to do
02:02is play the right way, and if we do those things, then maybe the results will take care
02:09of themselves, and we'll look up at the end of the year and see where we are, and that's
02:13certainly the goal.
02:15All sample size granted, but is there any player in a positive way that has surprised
02:21you so far?
02:22Well, I don't know about surprised, but maybe confirmed.
02:27A guy like Lucas Raymond, you can see why people rave about him, but now when you're
02:32on the bench and you're around him, and the way he practices and approaches the game,
02:37you really appreciate it, and you know why he's turning into a star quickly, because
02:41he's one hell of a player, but he puts a lot of time and energy into his craft.
02:47So that's been really good, and I thought that the Brinkett and Kane have produced well
02:51for us for the two games that I've been here.
02:55Anyhow, they've been very effective offensively, and they haven't hurt us defensively, so productive
03:02minutes out of those two.
03:03We're talking to Red Wing head coach Todd McClellan this morning, and you can imagine
03:07everyone's looking into the moves and reading into the moves, splitting up Sider and Edvinson.
03:11What went into that decision on the blue line?
03:13Well, they had played well together prior to Trent Yanni and I getting here.
03:19They logged a lot of minutes.
03:22Their experience level isn't as high as obviously the veteran players that are around, yet they
03:26handled the minutes very well.
03:28Prior to Christmas, Simon got injured, and he hadn't skated for about 7 or 8 days.
03:33So in that Toronto game, he looked real rusty early, and we decided to split them up, and
03:37then we kept them apart.
03:39I don't think there's anything wrong with them experiencing life away from each other
03:44for a little while, and trying to balance out the defense.
03:49It was a hell of a shift by Sider at the end of that game yesterday, wasn't it?
03:54He has a lot of those shifts.
03:56He is a beast.
03:57He's a player right now that we really appreciate, because he's giving us everything he has,
04:04and he's willing to learn.
04:05He's like a sponge, and that rubs off on other players.
04:08He's a beast, there's no other way to put it, and we're happy to have him.
04:14Joe Valeno, you put him up on the top line, looked like he gave a little bit of a burst.
04:18What did you see from that decision?
04:20Well, we didn't start there in the game against Toronto, but as the night wore on, we thought
04:25that Larkin and Raymond maybe could use a little more pace with him, so Joey went up
04:30there and he did a real good job.
04:31We continued on last night, and to this point, he's found a home there.
04:35He's got the skill level to play with those two.
04:38His engine is pretty good.
04:40He's got the ability to keep up and extend shifts if he has to, and so far, so good.
04:47But you've got to earn your keep every day, and I think he's the type of individual that
04:51will do that.
04:52In the last couple of years, I thought this team looked too easy to play against.
04:56Nobody comes into Little Caesars Arena afraid to play the Red Wings.
05:01How do you change that?
05:03Well, you know what?
05:05We have to define what physicality is, and it's different for everybody.
05:09We have to use what we have right now and get it out of them, but Alex Dobrynkat is
05:15going to play physical differently than Rasmussen might.
05:21For me, you look at Dobrynkat last night, he scored two goals in the blue paint, one
05:25of our smaller players, but he went into that area, and that's physicality for me.
05:30Face-offs, shift lengths, shot blocking, those are all part of being physical.
05:36It's not always just crashing and banging and fighting, although those things are necessary
05:42at some point, too, so we'll have to evolve as a team.
05:46We'll have to define what physicality is for a lot of the players and make sure we're getting
05:50at least that out of them, and then as the team grows and the organization grows, we'll
05:55see where it all ends up.
05:56Have you had a chance to take a deep breath?
05:58I feel like this has been a quick turnaround for you.
06:01It has been.
06:02It has been crazy for both Trent Yanni and I.
06:04We've been on planes all over the place and then coming in basically unprepared.
06:12Normally what we do in the summer, it prepares us for training camp, all the video meetings,
06:17line combinations, even scheduling is all done.
06:22We're trying to do all of this on the fly, play games every second night, so it has been
06:27hectic and just trying to breathe, and then you throw life into it, too.
06:32Finding somewhere to live, getting your wife into town, making sure that she's comfortable
06:37and happy, family, the whole nine yards, so a lot going on right now, but wouldn't trade
06:42it for anything.
06:43You know, it helps the fact that you were here before, won the Stanley Cup with this
06:47team as assistant coach, and I'm sure your wife and your family remember certain things.
06:52Is there something that, I don't know, a place, a restaurant that you want to go back to,
06:57that type of thing?
06:58Well, you know, it's funny you say that because it's been like a time warp.
07:04You come back in here to Little Caesars Arena, and I've seen so many people that were around
07:09from my time in 05 to 08, great people, from security guards to the cooks to, you name
07:19it, ticket takers, so many people are still around here, and I think that's a real reflection
07:26on the Illich family.
07:27They had that going when I was here, and they've taken care of all of these employees and they're
07:32still here, but the big thing that we really enjoy are the people in Detroit.
07:36We've got a lot of good friends here, friendly people, big hockey supporters, big football
07:42basketball supporters, so it's a great sports town, as you guys know, and we're happy to
07:46be back.
07:47Todd, to get you out of here on this, I just want to circle back.
07:49We mentioned the response from the team yesterday.
07:51How receptive have they been in your view, like, not that they necessarily wanted a coaching
07:56change, they liked Derek, but have you sensed that they want to be coached, that they want
08:02to shake things up and maybe have a change in philosophy?
08:08I do.
08:09At this point, they certainly are.
08:11Their eyes are wide open, their ears are working right now, they're willing to put the effort
08:15and time into change.
08:16Let's face it, they're human beings, they're athletes, and they come to the rink, they
08:22want to win, or at least have a chance at winning, so it hasn't been a lot of fun for
08:26them any time that a coach is removed for whatever reason.
08:30It's usually not going well, and nobody's happy, but our four or five days here now,
08:35they've been very receptive, they've worked.
08:37I'm happy to see that they got the reward last night, because eventually you need that,
08:43but it's early.
08:44You know, the test is going to come 10, 15 days in once all the newness has worn off.
08:49Are they prepared to maintain and stay on course, or are they going to wander a little
08:54bit, and that's our job, is to keep them on course as much as we possibly can.
08:59Thanks for joining us, we appreciate it, happy new year, beat the Penguins tomorrow
09:02night, and everything will be good.
09:04Happy new year, guys, thanks for having me.
09:07Happy new year, coach, thank you so much for your time.
09:08He's Todd McClellan, Red Wings' new head coach.