Todd Andrew McLellan (born October 3, 1967) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL). He previously served as head coach of the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...

(2008–2015) and

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

(2015–2018), and as an assistant coach with the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

(2005–2008), with whom he won the

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...

in 2008. He was drafted in 1986 by the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

, but only played five games with the major league club in the 1987–88 season before retiring in the minors the following season due to recurring injury.

Playing career

After living in

Goodeve, Saskatchewan Goodeve ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Stanley No. 215 and Census Division No. 5. The village is the administrative centre of the Little Black Bear Cree First Natio ...

, and

Melville, Saskatchewan Melville is a small city in the east-central portion of Saskatchewan, Canada. The city is northeast of the provincial capital of Regina and southwest of Yorkton. Melville is bordered by the rural municipalities of Cana No. 214 and Stanley No ...

, during his childhood, McLellan started his playing career with the

Saskatoon Blades The Saskatoon Blades are a major junior ice hockey team playing in the Eastern Division of the Western Hockey League, formerly the Western Canadian Hockey League (WCHL). They are based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, playing at the 15,195-seat SaskTe ...

of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

(WHL) from

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. In the

1986 NHL Entry Draft The 1986 NHL Entry Draft was the 24th NHL Entry Draft. It was held on June 21, 1986, at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 252 players eligible for entry into professional ranks, in the revers ...

, he was drafted by the

in the fifth round. He played a total of five games at the NHL level, spending most of two seasons with the Islanders'

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

(AHL) affiliate, the

Springfield Indians The Springfield Indians were a minor professional ice hockey franchise, originally based in West Springfield, Massachusetts and later Springfield, Massachusetts. The Indians were founding members of the American Hockey League. They were in existen ...

. However, recurring shoulder injuries dating back to his junior hockey days ended McLellan's North American playing career after the 1988–89 season. He scored his only NHL goal on his league debut on December 28, 1987 in a 6-4 loss to the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional sports, professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...

. He returned home to study at the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

for a year, before resuming his playing career for S.IJ. Utrecht of the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

in the Netherlands. During his three seasons there, the team hired a new coach, who moved in with McLellan and made him a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

, which McLellan recognizes as the reason he became interested in coaching.

Coaching career

Following his stint as a player-coach with SIJ Utrecht, McLellan returned to Canada in 1992. He went into full-time coaching in 1993, being hired as the coach of the North Battleford North Stars of the Saskatchewan Junior League. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, McLellan was hired as the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the

Swift Current Broncos The Swift Current Broncos are a junior ice hockey team in the Western Hockey League. Founded during 1967 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, the Broncos played seven seasons before relocating to Lethbridge from 1974 to 1986 as the Lethbridge Broncos ...

of the WHL, where he succeeded Graham James. In his six seasons with Swift Current, the Broncos qualified for the WHL playoffs in all seasons. McLellan himself was named WHL Executive of the Year in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and

Coach of the Year Many sports leagues, sportswriting associations, and other organizations confer "Coach of the Year" awards. In some sports — including baseball and association football — the award is called the "Manager of the Year" award. Some of the ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. Following his successes at the junior level, McLellan was hired by the expansion

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference and play their home games at the Xcel Ener ...

to coach their minor league affiliate, the

Cleveland Lumberjacks The Cleveland Lumberjacks were an International Hockey League (IHL) team based in Cleveland, Ohio. Facts :Owner: Larry Gordon :Logo design: "Buzz"- A beaver wearing overalls holding a homemade hockey stick framed by a circular saw blade :Divis ...

of the International Hockey League (IHL). After the IHL folded in 2001, McLellan and his staff were transferred to the Wild's new minor league affiliate, the Houston Aeros of the AHL. As coach of the Aeros, McLellan led Houston to the

Calder Cup The Calder Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the playoff champions of the American Hockey League. It was first presented in 1937 to the Syracuse Stars. The cup is made of sterling silver mounted on a base of Brazilian mahogany. In its curr ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Mike Babcock Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

selected McLellan to serve as his assistant with the

. In Detroit, McLellan was tasked with handling the Red Wings' forwards and managing the team's

power play Power play or powerplay or their plurals may refer to: Sports * Power play (sporting term), a sporting term used in various games * Powerplay (cricket), a rule concerning fielding restrictions in one-day international cricket * Power play (cur ...

, as well as reporting player performance to head coach Babcock. Under his watch, the Red Wings had the top-ranked power play in the NHL, finishing first in power play efficiency in 2005–06 and third in 2007–08. McLellan won his first

with the Red Wings in 2007–08. On June 11, 2008, the

hired McLellan to become their new head coach, replacing Ron Wilson. He would end up the head coach for the Western Conference All-Star team, and lead the Sharks to their first

Presidents' Trophy The Presidents' Trophy (french: Trophée des présidents) is an award presented by the National Hockey League (NHL) to the team that finishes with the most points (i.e. best record) during the NHL regular season. If two teams are tied for the mo ...

with an NHL-leading 117 points to finish the regular season, and finished third in voting for that season's

Jack Adams Award The Jack Adams Award is awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success." The league's Coach of the Year award has been presented 47 times to 39 coaches. The winner is selecte ...

, behind winner Claude Julien and

Andy Murray Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...

. On March 14, 2013, with a 4–3 victory over the

, McLellan became the winningest coach in Sharks history with 207 victories. On February 5, 2014, against the

Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and were founde ...

, McLellan tied

Darryl Sutter Darryl John Sutter (born August 19, 1958) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and current head coach of the Calgary Flames. He is one of seven Sutter brothers, six of whom made the NHL ( Brent, Brian, Darryl, Duane, Rich, and Ro ...

for the most games coached in Sharks history with 434. After the team missed the playoffs in the 2014–15 season, McLellan and the Sharks agreed to mutually part ways on April 20, ending his tenure as the Sharks' winningest coach. He coached the Canadian national team at the 2015 World Championship, where the team won the title for the first time since 2007 with a perfect 10–0 record. On May 19, 2015, he was named head coach of the

, becoming the 14th head coach in team history. He succeeded Todd Nelson, who took over on an interim basis after

Dallas Eakins Dallas Franklin Eakins (''né'' Yoder; February 27, 1967) is an American professional ice hockey coach and former player. He is the head coach of the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously served as the head coach of the ...

was fired. At the time of his signing, McLellan became the highest paid coach in NHL history, earning around $3 million per season. However, he would hold the distinction for exactly one day, as McLellan's former colleague Mike Babcock signed an eight-year contract with the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

worth around $6.25 million per season on May 20. McLellan's first season in Edmonton was a rebuilding one. The Oilers finished with 70 points, the second-worst record in the league. However, the following season—the first in the team's new arena,

Rogers Place Rogers Place is a multi-use indoor arena in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Construction started in March 2014, and the building officially opened on September 8, 2016. The arena has a seating capacity of 18,500 as a hockey venue and 20,734 as a conce ...

—saw a dramatic turnaround. The Oilers tallied over 100 points for the first time since the 1980s' dynasty years. On March 28, 2017, the Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2–1 to make the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. They also earned home-ice advantage in a playoff series for the first time since winning their last Cup in 1990. They upended McLellan's old team, the Sharks, in six games to win a playoff series for only the sixth time since 1990. On November 20, 2018, McLellan was fired by the Oilers and replaced by Ken Hitchcock after posting a record of 9–10–1. On April 16, 2019, the

named McLellan head coach.

Playing career statistics

Head coaching record

* Shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2019–20 season.

Personal life

In 1992, McLellan married his wife Debbie. They have two sons, Tyson and Cale.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McLellan, Todd 1967 births Living people Canada men's national ice hockey team coaches Detroit Red Wings coaches Edmonton Oilers coaches Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan New York Islanders draft picks New York Islanders players San Jose Sharks coaches Saskatoon Blades players Sportspeople from Melville, Saskatchewan Springfield Indians players Swift Current Broncos coaches Canadian ice hockey centres Canadian ice hockey coaches