The Detroit Red Wings are in sixth place in the Atlantic division with 22 points. The cutoff for deciding whether a team will make the Stanley Cup playoffs is traditionally American Thanksgiving. If a team is more than four points out of a playoff spot, it will decide to trade players to contending teams. The Red Wings’ head coach, Derek Lalonde, is in his third season and the final season of his current contract. Rumors have sprung up that Joel Quenneville could replace Lalonde as the next head coach of the Red Wings.
Lalonde is the second consecutive Red Wings head coach to have his first head coaching opportunity with the team. Jeff Blashill was the head coach of the Red Wings from 2015 to 2022. During that time, the Red Wings began their rebuilding under former general manager Ken Holland. Blashill replaced Mike Babcock, who took the head coaching job with the Toronto Maple Leafs in May 2015. Babcock called Blashill a “serial winner” when discussing his time coaching the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League.
Holland had begun using the phrase “rebuild on the fly.” If you can call it that, this was the main issue, with the Red Wings making the Stanley Cup playoffs 25 seasons in a row. General manager Steve Yzerman had to remake the Red Wings’ roster and has proven that he will do what is necessary to get the most out of his roster. This was evident when he placed goaltender Ville Husso on waivers after he started the first game of the 2024-25 season against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After being fired by the Red Wings Blashill took an assistant coach role with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Lalonde was an assistant coach with the Lightning for four seasons, one of which he helped the team to a Stanley Cup championship in 2020 and 2021. He also won a championship while head coach of the Green Bay Gamblers of the USHL. The question is who is a candidate to replace Lalonde if the Red Wings decide to move on?
Greg Wyshynski, senior NHL writer at ESPN, recently wrote that “there also has been speculation that it might happen, and one rumor that made the rounds in NHL coaching circles this month was that Joel Quenneville might take over the Detroit bench.” While Quenneville is a Stanley Cup-winning head coach, this potential hire would not come without controversy. The question is whether the Red Wings organization can handle such a controversy.
Quenneville resigned as the head coach of the Florida Panthers in October of 2021 after a meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman “a day after Kyle Beach said it was impossible for the former Chicago Blackhawks coach to not know about allegations of sexual assault by former video coach Brad Aldrich,” according to The Athletic. The NHL reinstated Quenneville on July 1st.
“While it is clear that, at the time, their responses were unacceptable, each of these three individuals has acknowledged that and used his time away from the game to engage in activities which, not only demonstrate sincere remorse for what happened, but also evidence greater awareness of the responsibilities that all NHL personnel have, particularly personnel who are in positions of leadership,” the NHL said in a statement. “Moreover, each has made significant strides in personal improvement by participating in myriad programs, many of which focused on the imperative of responding in effective and meaningful ways to address alleged acts of abuse.
“The League expects that they will continue this commitment in any future capacity with the NHL and/or one of our Clubs.”
Lalonde is not the first coach to lose his job this season. The Boston Bruins fired Jim Montgomery after the Bruins started the 2024-25 season with a record of 8-9-3. With a regular season record of 120-41-23 with the Bruins Montgomery was fired for his lack of playoff success with the team. The St. Louis Blues quickly signed Montgomery to a five-year contract five days after being fired by the Bruins. Montgomery had previous experience with the Blues after being an assistant coach with the team from 2020-22 under Craig Berube.
Yzerman knew Lalonde from their time with the Lightning. One thing that Yzerman has not done is give Lalonde a roster that can win playoff series. That is not to say that the Red Wings’ roster has not improved. Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson have separated themselves as the top defensive pair on the roster. What is beyond these two is perhaps the downfall of the Red Wings. Ben Chiarot and Jeff Petry are the second pair of Red Wings defensemen.
