Derek Lalonde: Is The Hot Seat Warm In Detroit?
The 2023-24 NHL Season begins today! Young Andrew did the Red Wings preview. If you want to read that, click here. With that said, it’s starting to feel like the pressure is mounting in Detroit. Steve Yzerman began his reign back with the Red Wings back in 2019 and it’s time to get back into the playoffs. If that doesn’t happen, it sounds like the head coach could be on the chopping block. Derek Lalonde could be on the hot seat entering the season.
“Tyler Yaremchuk: You think Derek Lalonde could be the first coach to lose his job?”
“Frank Seravalli: So I actually took that out of the final cut but I do think that Steve Yzerman for one is feeling a little bit of heat. This is year five of the Yzerplan, they need to take a step forward. I also think that he was pretty unhappy how last season played out and the comments Lalonde made when he was on TV for Sportsnet during the playoffs that the Lightning had to come out and refute.”
“I think he was probably not thrilled to be in that situation, not to make too big a deal out of that but its pretty rare to see second-year coaches end up getting the gas pipe. So I doubt that it happens, I wasn’t bold enough to put that in. But what’s really interesting about this is this year on the coaching front is that I don’t think there are many guys who enter the year on the hot seat, that it was kind of hard to pinpoint one in particular.”
Lalonde, 51, is entering the second year on the job in Detroit. It seems like Yzerman was unhappy with the comments that he made on TV about Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. Whether the comments are true or untrue, it seems to have ruffled some feathers. Keep in mind, Yzerman used to work in Tampa.
We’re now in year five of the Yzerplan and maybe Lalonde is out of a job if Detroit doesn’t make the playoffs. They haven’t made the postseason since the 2015-16 season. Still, with Lalonde only on his second year on the job, it feels like it’s a little soon to pull the plug on this thing. It’s something to keep an eye on nevertheless.
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