Scout
01-24-2009, 07:19 AM
Killion: Sharks' McLellan acing the balance test so far
By Ann Killion
Posted: 01/23/2009 09:02:29 PM PST
Todd McLellan is thrilled about this weekend's big hockey event.
"I want them to win," he said.
His NHL West All-Stars? The ones he'll be coaching Sunday in Montreal?
Oh, sure. Them, too.
But McLellan's zeal is for his son's Pee Wee hockey team. While the Sharks' coach is preparing to work his first NHL All-Star Game, Tyson McLellan is playing for the Junior Sharks in the Silver Sticks Tournament in Port Huron, Mich.
That's where the McLellan family originally planned to spend the NHL All-Star break. Tyson's team had qualified for the tournament and the family was looking forward to a trip to Michigan, their home until last summer when the Sharks hired McLellan away from the Detroit Red Wings.
But a funny thing happened on the road to the family vacation. In his first three months as an NHL head coach, McLellan's team got off to the best start in history — not Sharks history, but NHL history. So McLellan, 41, found himself making the switch from hockey dad to All-Star coach.
"I'm honored," he said last week.
He's also sure to be exhausted. Tuesday night, after the game against Vancouver (overtime, no less), McLellan hopped a redeye flight to join the family — wife Debbie, Tyson, 12, and Cale, 9 — in Michigan.Thursday, he was at Tyson's first game, a 7-0 rout in which young McLellan, No. 88, scored a goal and tallied three assists.
Friday, the All-Star coach left for Montreal knowing
that if Tyson's team keeps winning, his wife and boys won't be joining him.
"They're hoping they're not," he said with a grin.
McLellan is more reserved about his own weekend. This should be a pinch-me moment for the product of Western Canada: Born and raised in Saskatchewan, McLellan will be coaching hockey's greatest players in hockey's most hallowed city. But McLellan is downplaying this accomplishment, along with all the others that have come during his first few months on the job.
"I don't think he ever has any self-congratulatory moments," said Sharks television analyst Drew Remenda, who shares McLellan's Saskatoon roots and has known the coach for years. "It's never about him."
But it's not as easy for others to take everything in stride.
"It's surreal," said his father, Bill, from his home in Saskatchewan. "We've all been on Cloud 9 here."
"There's huge Saskatoon pride for this guy," Remenda said.
McLellan's brief Sharks tenure has been marked by his even keel and perspective. His ability to deflect attention to others is a skill he learned in childhood. The son of a Mountie always drew a lot of attention in the small towns of Western Canada where the McLellan family lived at various times.
"There's a lot of pressure on the children," said Bill, who served in the RCMP for 36 years. "But he adapted."
From an early age, McLellan — 18 months older than his twin siblings — was a leader.
"He was always the guy that did the right thing," said Kelly Chase, a former NHL player who is now a St. Louis Blues radio broadcaster. Chase and McLellan have been friends since junior hockey, when Chase lived at the McLellan home in Saskatoon. They were members of each other's wedding parties.
"He would keep you in order," Chase said. "If you had a problem, he would help you think it through."
Bill McLellan, now a junior hockey scout, thought if hockey didn't pan out his eldest son would probably become a teacher.
When the coaching bug bit, McLellan didn't have a firm future plan. His NHL career cut short due to a shoulder injury, McLellan headed to the Netherlands for one last go at the game.
"It was a chance to play again," said McLellan, who was also about to be married.
His new coach was a North American named Doug McKay and they were assigned as roommates. The two men would talk hockey into the night and McLellan learned to look at the game from a coach's perspective.
"I enjoyed the tactics part of it," McLellan said. "How he planned the practice. How he made players better."
From there McLellan launched his career in junior hockey. He earned attention with Swift Current of the Western Hockey League, where he coached six seasons. McLellan's calming influence was key at Swift Current because his predecessor was Graham James, the legendary coach whose long history of sexually abusing players was just coming to light. When the story broke two years into McLellan's tenure, the team was inundated with media — even Oprah was on the story. The organization was rocked by the scandal. It was an immediate lesson in surviving a crisis.
"I learned how to manage a team," McLellan said.
His next stop was Houston, where he won the American Hockey League's Calder Cup. And then McLellan — who finished two years of college — enrolled in what he considers hockey's Harvard: the Detroit Red Wings.
"It's like a classroom full of elite students, with extremely high SAT scores," he said. "To be around that was like being at an elite school."
After three years as an assistant, he was hired for the top job in San Jose.
"It's harder to take over a team like this," Remenda said. "Coaches usually get their shot with rebuilding teams, where the players have failed and are ready for coaching. It's hard to take over a good team and make it better."
McLellan's family settled into Willow Glen and quickly became part of the community. But McLellan took a trip back to Saskatoon in August for an important date. Each member of the winning team gets 24 hours with the Stanley Cup. On Aug. 18, McLellan greeted the Cup at the airport and spent the rest of the day in a daze.
"It was like getting married again," he said. "Taking pictures. Greeting people. It was all a blur. But late that night we sat outside, around a fire, hanging out with the Cup."
One of McLellan's biggest challenges is trying to balance family life and work. His boys have adapted well. Tyson talks to his friends back in Detroit by Skype.
"I think he's even converted a few into Sharks fans," Debbie McLellan said.
And all their friends want to come visit — especially when there is an almost 100-degree difference in temperature.
McLellan likes having kids — his and everyone else's — around the Sharks.
"It humbles us a little bit," he said. "It keeps us honest."
This morning, the standings of the Port Huron Silver Sticks Tournament shows the Junior Sharks in first place. The tournament's leading scorer? No. 88, Tyson McLellan.
Clearly, it's a great weekend for the McLellans. And that All-Star coaching gig is pretty cool, too.
Scout
By Ann Killion
Posted: 01/23/2009 09:02:29 PM PST
Todd McLellan is thrilled about this weekend's big hockey event.
"I want them to win," he said.
His NHL West All-Stars? The ones he'll be coaching Sunday in Montreal?
Oh, sure. Them, too.
But McLellan's zeal is for his son's Pee Wee hockey team. While the Sharks' coach is preparing to work his first NHL All-Star Game, Tyson McLellan is playing for the Junior Sharks in the Silver Sticks Tournament in Port Huron, Mich.
That's where the McLellan family originally planned to spend the NHL All-Star break. Tyson's team had qualified for the tournament and the family was looking forward to a trip to Michigan, their home until last summer when the Sharks hired McLellan away from the Detroit Red Wings.
But a funny thing happened on the road to the family vacation. In his first three months as an NHL head coach, McLellan's team got off to the best start in history — not Sharks history, but NHL history. So McLellan, 41, found himself making the switch from hockey dad to All-Star coach.
"I'm honored," he said last week.
He's also sure to be exhausted. Tuesday night, after the game against Vancouver (overtime, no less), McLellan hopped a redeye flight to join the family — wife Debbie, Tyson, 12, and Cale, 9 — in Michigan.Thursday, he was at Tyson's first game, a 7-0 rout in which young McLellan, No. 88, scored a goal and tallied three assists.
Friday, the All-Star coach left for Montreal knowing
that if Tyson's team keeps winning, his wife and boys won't be joining him.
"They're hoping they're not," he said with a grin.
McLellan is more reserved about his own weekend. This should be a pinch-me moment for the product of Western Canada: Born and raised in Saskatchewan, McLellan will be coaching hockey's greatest players in hockey's most hallowed city. But McLellan is downplaying this accomplishment, along with all the others that have come during his first few months on the job.
"I don't think he ever has any self-congratulatory moments," said Sharks television analyst Drew Remenda, who shares McLellan's Saskatoon roots and has known the coach for years. "It's never about him."
But it's not as easy for others to take everything in stride.
"It's surreal," said his father, Bill, from his home in Saskatchewan. "We've all been on Cloud 9 here."
"There's huge Saskatoon pride for this guy," Remenda said.
McLellan's brief Sharks tenure has been marked by his even keel and perspective. His ability to deflect attention to others is a skill he learned in childhood. The son of a Mountie always drew a lot of attention in the small towns of Western Canada where the McLellan family lived at various times.
"There's a lot of pressure on the children," said Bill, who served in the RCMP for 36 years. "But he adapted."
From an early age, McLellan — 18 months older than his twin siblings — was a leader.
"He was always the guy that did the right thing," said Kelly Chase, a former NHL player who is now a St. Louis Blues radio broadcaster. Chase and McLellan have been friends since junior hockey, when Chase lived at the McLellan home in Saskatoon. They were members of each other's wedding parties.
"He would keep you in order," Chase said. "If you had a problem, he would help you think it through."
Bill McLellan, now a junior hockey scout, thought if hockey didn't pan out his eldest son would probably become a teacher.
When the coaching bug bit, McLellan didn't have a firm future plan. His NHL career cut short due to a shoulder injury, McLellan headed to the Netherlands for one last go at the game.
"It was a chance to play again," said McLellan, who was also about to be married.
His new coach was a North American named Doug McKay and they were assigned as roommates. The two men would talk hockey into the night and McLellan learned to look at the game from a coach's perspective.
"I enjoyed the tactics part of it," McLellan said. "How he planned the practice. How he made players better."
From there McLellan launched his career in junior hockey. He earned attention with Swift Current of the Western Hockey League, where he coached six seasons. McLellan's calming influence was key at Swift Current because his predecessor was Graham James, the legendary coach whose long history of sexually abusing players was just coming to light. When the story broke two years into McLellan's tenure, the team was inundated with media — even Oprah was on the story. The organization was rocked by the scandal. It was an immediate lesson in surviving a crisis.
"I learned how to manage a team," McLellan said.
His next stop was Houston, where he won the American Hockey League's Calder Cup. And then McLellan — who finished two years of college — enrolled in what he considers hockey's Harvard: the Detroit Red Wings.
"It's like a classroom full of elite students, with extremely high SAT scores," he said. "To be around that was like being at an elite school."
After three years as an assistant, he was hired for the top job in San Jose.
"It's harder to take over a team like this," Remenda said. "Coaches usually get their shot with rebuilding teams, where the players have failed and are ready for coaching. It's hard to take over a good team and make it better."
McLellan's family settled into Willow Glen and quickly became part of the community. But McLellan took a trip back to Saskatoon in August for an important date. Each member of the winning team gets 24 hours with the Stanley Cup. On Aug. 18, McLellan greeted the Cup at the airport and spent the rest of the day in a daze.
"It was like getting married again," he said. "Taking pictures. Greeting people. It was all a blur. But late that night we sat outside, around a fire, hanging out with the Cup."
One of McLellan's biggest challenges is trying to balance family life and work. His boys have adapted well. Tyson talks to his friends back in Detroit by Skype.
"I think he's even converted a few into Sharks fans," Debbie McLellan said.
And all their friends want to come visit — especially when there is an almost 100-degree difference in temperature.
McLellan likes having kids — his and everyone else's — around the Sharks.
"It humbles us a little bit," he said. "It keeps us honest."
This morning, the standings of the Port Huron Silver Sticks Tournament shows the Junior Sharks in first place. The tournament's leading scorer? No. 88, Tyson McLellan.
Clearly, it's a great weekend for the McLellans. And that All-Star coaching gig is pretty cool, too.
Scout