- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 446,143
- Reaction score
- 44
Todd McLellan isn't one to mince words, he's made that abundantly clear during his nearly four months coaching the Detroit Red Wings.
He called out the team multiple times down the stretch for what he termed sulking and needing to be mentally firmer.
At his season-ending availability, sitting side-by-side with general manager Steve Yzerman, McLellan said the Wings have the players needed to make the playoffs.
"This team, in my opinion, I’ve been here for three months, was good enough to play in the playoffs," McLellan said. "You look at some of the teams that made it, we were good enough the way we were constructed to make and play in the playoffs. We didn't play well enough.
"The mental fortitude, the resiliency has to come from us, we have to drive it, and for me, you probably hear me talk about game management until you're sick of it. And that has to get better. We can't just put our skates on and play the game. We have to manage our way through the game and playoff teams are doing that right now."
McLellan has hammered home the importance of game management, and how the Wings don't handle things well when they go awry. They went on six-game slide shortly after coming out of the 4 Nations break, and never recovered. They were eliminated on April 10, missing the playoffs for a ninth straight year.
"When it got [bad] for us, we went deeper into it instead of pulling ourselves out," McLellan said. "That's on us, it doesn't matter who Steve drops in or who shows up and walks into the locker room. If the mentality of the group as a whole is like that, we can bring three people and it doesn't matter. So the group has to change, and then we can augment it with others.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT WINGS STORY: Defiant Steve Yzerman addresses controversial comments by Detroit Red Wings' Dylan Larkin
"We were good enough as a group to make the playoffs, and we didn't. We proved that with the win streaks that we went through. We proved that with the games that we were in. We don't [give] away the points against Tampa Bay before the 4 Nation break. We weren't prepared to play that night. We go into Washington, it's 2-1. We [gave] out one away. There's two more points. We go into Montreal, we have an opportunity to win. We go to St. Louis, it's 1-0 with 30 seconds left. We have a chance to win. There's enough points right there in games that we had control of that we gave away. So it's not about who wasn't here, in my opinion, it's about who is here, and who is here, has to do a better job. We were good enough to make it."
Yzerman, too, made a point that the Wings needed to grow from within.
"I'm counting on all of our players, particularly our best players, everyone to do their job, and everyone to hold themselves accountable and hold themselves to a high standard," Yzerman said. "Ultimately, I have to do that with myself, which I believe I do, and we eventually will get to where we want to go, and hopefully, obviously, that's sooner than later."
Contact Helene St. James at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings, A Curated History of the Red Wings,” was released October 2024. Her books, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Todd McLellan: Detroit Red Wings 'good enough to play in playoffs'
Continue reading...
He called out the team multiple times down the stretch for what he termed sulking and needing to be mentally firmer.
At his season-ending availability, sitting side-by-side with general manager Steve Yzerman, McLellan said the Wings have the players needed to make the playoffs.
"This team, in my opinion, I’ve been here for three months, was good enough to play in the playoffs," McLellan said. "You look at some of the teams that made it, we were good enough the way we were constructed to make and play in the playoffs. We didn't play well enough.
"The mental fortitude, the resiliency has to come from us, we have to drive it, and for me, you probably hear me talk about game management until you're sick of it. And that has to get better. We can't just put our skates on and play the game. We have to manage our way through the game and playoff teams are doing that right now."
You must be registered for see images attach
McLellan has hammered home the importance of game management, and how the Wings don't handle things well when they go awry. They went on six-game slide shortly after coming out of the 4 Nations break, and never recovered. They were eliminated on April 10, missing the playoffs for a ninth straight year.
"When it got [bad] for us, we went deeper into it instead of pulling ourselves out," McLellan said. "That's on us, it doesn't matter who Steve drops in or who shows up and walks into the locker room. If the mentality of the group as a whole is like that, we can bring three people and it doesn't matter. So the group has to change, and then we can augment it with others.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT WINGS STORY: Defiant Steve Yzerman addresses controversial comments by Detroit Red Wings' Dylan Larkin
"We were good enough as a group to make the playoffs, and we didn't. We proved that with the win streaks that we went through. We proved that with the games that we were in. We don't [give] away the points against Tampa Bay before the 4 Nation break. We weren't prepared to play that night. We go into Washington, it's 2-1. We [gave] out one away. There's two more points. We go into Montreal, we have an opportunity to win. We go to St. Louis, it's 1-0 with 30 seconds left. We have a chance to win. There's enough points right there in games that we had control of that we gave away. So it's not about who wasn't here, in my opinion, it's about who is here, and who is here, has to do a better job. We were good enough to make it."
Yzerman, too, made a point that the Wings needed to grow from within.
"I'm counting on all of our players, particularly our best players, everyone to do their job, and everyone to hold themselves accountable and hold themselves to a high standard," Yzerman said. "Ultimately, I have to do that with myself, which I believe I do, and we eventually will get to where we want to go, and hopefully, obviously, that's sooner than later."
Contact Helene St. James at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings, A Curated History of the Red Wings,” was released October 2024. Her books, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Todd McLellan: Detroit Red Wings 'good enough to play in playoffs'
Continue reading...
