Mc & Blue Cheese (Sabres McLellan)

Sabres McLellan

Mc & Blue Cheese

By GARTH'S CORNER

Apr 10, 2019 • 10:09 pm

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If you are looking for Todd McLellan, he and his family are is in Buffalo, N.Y. right now. Clan McLellan will be ere huntil Saturday. The McLellans are here on a family trip. McLellan will be mixing in business on his family stay-cation in Buffalo.

Todd’s son, Tyson, a third year forward for the University at Denver, is appearing in the NCAA Frozen Four in Buffalo.

Tyson McLellan appeared at media day here on Wednesday afternoon. Tyson, who wears an “A… on his sweater, was asked about if has an opinion about his father interviewing for the vacant Sabres head coaching position while he is in Buffalo for the next four days.

In true son of an NHL head coach fashion, Tyson escaped unscathed.

"No. This is Denver hockey this weekend. That’s on the back burner.…

Good job, Ty.

Don't let your team get over shadowed by the news of your father. That's a pro move.

Check out the full presser here:

Denver will play UMass in the semifinals on Thursday. Minnesota Duluth will play Providence on Thursday. The NCAA Mens Hockey Championship game will be played Saturday night at 8:30 pm in Buffalo.

Early Sunday afternoon, Sabres GM Jason Botterill fired Phil Houlsey after a second consecutive losing season.

Todd McLellan has been trending in Buffalo since Monday when the Sabres players cleaned their lockers and headed home for the summer. The Sabre shave now missed the playoffs eight straight season, the longest playoff drought in the National Hockey League.

The Sabres are looking for an experienced bench boss to lead the team out of the darkness and into the light. McLellan is a capable NHL head coach. I think he is the best available candidate to lead the Sabres back to their winning ways.

McLellan, 51, parted ways with the Edmonton Oilers in November. He spent four seasons with the Oilers. Prior to that, McLellan spent seven successful seasons as bench boss of the San Jose Sharks. McLellan is a former assistant coach to Mike Babcock in Detroit.

My friend Elliotte Friedman wrote this of Botterill and McLellan in Wednesday's "31 Thoughts":

“Certainly, he’s a person of interest. He’s on our list.…

“We’re open to anything,… Botterill replied. “You’re certainly looking for someone who has command of the room… that presence in the room. We have skill. We need to continue to develop that within our organization, bring some more in. We want to play a fast, uptempo style. We want to get our defencemen up in the play…. But it’s, as much as we want to play that offensive game, it’s having a little more structure defensively. That’s a big area where we can have improvement there.…

He added the internal debate is not about experience.

“We’re looking at someone who has that communicative ability, has that accountability, has that presence. That’s why we’re going to be looking at all different options.…

In 806 regular season games, McLellan has a 434-282-90 record. That's a .594 regular season win percentage. McLellan as a 37-38 record in 75 career playoff games.

My Take:

It was early Sunday afternoon that I wrote in this space that Todd McLellan is my first choice of cpaching candidates to replace Phil Housley.

I knew then that th eLos Angeles Kings were in introductory level conversations with McLellan.

Kings GM Rob Blake played for McLellan in San Jose. There is a relationship there. Shame on Blake for not getting McLellan's John Hancock on a contract last weekend to be the next head coach of the Kings.

All due respect to Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar, but the Kings are an old, slow NHL team with bad habits.rry, Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter, Trevor Lewis, and Jon Quick. You team jumped the shark a few weeks ago. The Kings players got John Steven and Willie Desjardins kicked to the curb this season. Why would McLellan sign up to be a hand older for aging vets who are getting paid substantial dollars for their past Stanley Cup victories.

Ask yourself:

Do the Kings have young, high-skill players like Jack Eichel, Rasmus Dahlin, Jeff Skinner, Casey Mittelstadt, Samson Reinhart, rasmus Ristolainen, Linus Ullmark, Victor Olofsson, Alex Nylander, Lawrence Pilut, Tage Thompson, Will Borgen?

I've been told that the Kings have offered McLellan $4 million per season for five years. That's a $1 million pay raise from his Edmonton Oilers annual salary.

The Pegulas and Jason Botterill now have the ability to meeet and beat LA's best offer. The Pegulas also have the ability to pay a portion of the total up front if need.

Todd McLellan is tough but fair. He is equal parts force and finesse. He is a mentor and a teacher. He is a disciplinarian. He holds his players, young and old accountable. He is a winner.

McLellan is also a fierce competitor who will not bow and pay respect to the heavyweight head coaches in teh Atlantic Division. McLellan is not intimidated by the hockey resumes of Jon Cooper, Joel Quenneville, Claude Julien, and Mike Babcock. McLellan-coached teams have consistently beaten the best coaches in the NHL. McLellan didn't like how his stint ended in Edmonton. He wants to prove to the hockey world that he is a winner.

The Sabres need a coach of McLellan's demeanor, personality and character right now. The Sabres haven't played in a Stanley Cup playoff game since 2011. You won't find morre loyal, passionate fans than Sabres fans. Howwever, Sabres Nation has had it up to here with the constant losing and excuses. They want to compete for a Stanley Cup championship and they want it now!

Too often during the abysmal second half to the 2018-19 the season, the Sabres folded like a cardboard box when trailing by a goal or two.

Too often this season the Sabres were timid and shy. They allowed opponents to bully them all over the ice. JKack Eichel, Jeff Skinner, Samson Reinhart, Rasmus Dahlin and others were treated poorly by opponents with no reply from their teammates. McLellan will make the Sabres harder to play against .

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