Todd McLellan and the Oilers

On Monday afternoon, the San Jose Sharks and Head Coach Todd McLellan decided to mutually part ways after seven years. McLellan made the playoffs six times with the Sharks, and got to the conference finals twice. On top of that, he also led the team to a President’t Trophy during the 2008-09 season, and led an offensive juggernaut.

I’ll do a massive piece regarding McLellan in the next few days, along with a few other coaching candidates, but I wanted to touch on this now because the Oilers are clearly interested in him.

HNIC’s Elliotte Friedman tweeted out the following prior to the Winnipeg Jets’ game against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night.

Hearing EDM has reached out to Todd McLellan. Will be plenty more…and his Worlds job will slow down the process.

This should come as no surprise, as McLellan is easily one of the best coaches on the open market this summer. Mike Babcock will certainly be the top option, but after him, McLellan represents the next best option. He’s a high level coach and someone who can get a lot out of his teams.

McLellan coaches skill very well, and usually has dynamic offensive teams. In Edmonton, he’ll get some real weapons, with established NHL’ers Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Benoit Pouliot, Nail Yakupov and Derek Roy to go with young prospects Leon Draisaitl and yes, Connor McDavid.

On top of that, McLellan has always had solid special teams units, especially the power-play. San Jose’s power-play units have been money for years, and have always highly ranked during McLellan’s tenure. This was the case when McLellan was an assistant in Detroit as well, from 2005 through 2008.

McLellan also has had success with young players over the years, including young defenders. He developed some solid players for the Minnesota Wild organization while coaching their minor league affiliate in Houston in the early 2000’s. He also has helped some solid young players for San Jose over the last seven seasons.

Lastly, Todd McLellan is a proven veteran coach with a solid track record in the NHL. He learned under Mike Babcock in Detroit (2005-08), and has had sustained success in San Jose for almost a decade. McLellan also had a six year stint in, very successfully too, the WHL, and also won a Calder Cup (AHL) as Houston’s head coach in 2003.

McLellan is one of the more proven coaches on the market this summer, and is easily one of the best options out there.

Edmonton needs stability at this spot for years to come, no longer can the team simply switch out coaches every year and a half, this team needs someone to step in and hold the fort for years, setting the standard in Edmonton. McLellan would do that, and he would provide an outside voice to an organization in desperate need of one.

The relationship is there too, as Craig MacTavish and McLellan’s kids play together in the USHL, and the two are friends. McLellan has also worked for Hockey Canada in the past, under the ruling of Bob Nicholson.

Will Todd McLellan be the next head coach in Edmonton? I’m not sure, but he’s been a target of mine for months, and I think he is a perfect fit for this team. The organization is clearly interested in McLellan, which is a very good sign.

We’ll have to see if anything comes of this, but it’s clear the Oilers have an idea of what they want their next coach to be, a proven veteran at the NHL level. Todd McLellan fills the hole, we’ll see if it happens.