The Detroit Red Wings have gone to a successful NHL assistant as their next head coach.
Red Wings Vice-President and General Manager Steve Yzerman announced Thursday afternoon that the team had hired Derek Lalonde as its new bench boss.
“I’m very pleased to announce Derek as our new head coach,” said Yzerman. “He has proven himself as an excellent coach at every level and has spent the last four seasons in the National Hockey League as part of a very successful program in Tampa Bay. We feel he is ready to take the next step in his career as the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings.”
UPDATE: Detroit #RedWings executive vice president and general manager Steve Yzerman today announced that the team has named Derek Lalonde the 28th head coach in franchise history.
: https://t.co/prZ9xpvGLj pic.twitter.com/y8RQzxn98G
— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) June 30, 2022
Yzerman already has a history with Lalonde, having hired him as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018, when Yzerman served as GM of that team. With Lalonde as an assistant, the Lightning went to the postseason each season, along with two Stanley Cups.
“I’m thrilled to be named head coach of the Red Wings,” said Lalonde in a media release. “I’d like to thank [Red Wings owner] Chris Ilitch and the entire Ilitch family, as well as Steve Yzerman and the Red Wings management team for entrusting me with the opportunity to lead this historic franchise. I’m ready to get to work with our group. There’s a very bright future ahead in Detroit.”
Lalonde succeeds Jeff Blashill, whose contract was not renewed after last season.
He will be the Wings’ second consecutive American-born coach, hailing from Brasher Falls, New York. Lalonde played college hockey as a goaltender, for SUNY Cortland. He entered coaching in 1995 as a graduate assistant at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, then assistant coaching stops at Lebanon Valley College, Hamilton College, Ferris State University, and the University of Denver.
Lalonde’s first head coaching job was USHL’s Green Bay Gamblers, where he also served as GM. He was also with Team USA at the 2012 and 2013 World Junior A Challenge, winning a gold medal as an assistant coach the first season, and a head coach the second.
The new coach also had a past connection to Detroit, serving as the head coach of the Toledo Walleye, its ECHL affiliate, from 2014 to 2016. Before joining the Lightning, Lalonde was head coach for the Iowa Wild, the AHL team for the Minnesota Wild, for two seasons, turning that team’s fortunes around with winning seasons.
