One piece of the puzzle

By Rich Hammond on June 11, 2008 4:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) |

The San Jose Sharks will hire Detroit assistant Todd McLelland as their new coach, according a report in the San Jose Mercury News.

Of McLelland, the paper writes, `` McLellan, 40, has been an assistant to Babcock for the past three seasons. Before that, McLellan was coach of the Houston Aeros and led that American Hockey League team to the Calder Cup title in 2003.''

Interesting choice. San Jose, considered a more ``ready-made'' team in terms of winning, hires a coach without NHL coaching experience. Will the Kings continue that trend?

3 Comments

-J

said:

So being an assistant coach for the best team in hockey for the past 3 seasons (red wings) doesn't count as NHL coaching experience? ;)

June 11, 2008 7:02 PM

-J

said:

I just re-read my last post and it seemed kinda a-holeish, particulary with all the hard work you've done today covering this story Rich- I didn't mean it that way.

Thanks for the great coverage.

June 11, 2008 7:25 PM

Buck said:

Ironically, Crawford would have been a good candidate for this gig.

June 11, 2008 9:46 PM

J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey. E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra
@inlandnewspapers.com.

Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews
.com.