Elliotte Friedman sheds light on one key detail around Detroit Red Wings' firing of HC Derek Lalonde 

By Zachary Roberts

Modified Dec 31, 2024 06:19 GMT

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The Detroit Red Wings fired Derek Lalonde one day after Christmas. While there has been rampant speculation about whether or not Lalonde was fired before Christmas and the news was announced later, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that that's not what happened.

He said on 32 Thoughts (23:27):

"I think I got wind of it, like, two minutes before it was tweeted. You know, Yzerman, he's a lock box man, like he, you know, not much gets out there. I think there was a report that the players didn't even know, which happens sometimes, but rarely."

Friedman claimed Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman kept things under wraps until it was officially announced.

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Elliotte Friedman details why Derek Lalonde was fired

Derek Lalonde couldn't get his team, which missed a postseason spot thanks to a tiebreaker last year, trending in the right direction this year. The standard is, per Steve Yzerman, to compete for a wild card.

The Red Wings moved on from Derek Lalonde (Imagn)

Elliotte Friedman also broke down what went wrong with the team and possibly led to Lalonde's firing on his podcast.

"When your team doesn't push back repeatedly, it's not just a one-off. You're gonna have one-off, but when they don't push back repeatedly, that's when you know it's time. And clearly, you know, while I wouldn't say that Yzerman got that from Burke, although Burke might claim he did, it's clear that they subscribe to the same philosophy," Friedman said.

Friedman wasn't surprised veteran NHL coach Todd McLellan was brought in. He reported that the team considered bringing in Jim Montgomery after the Boston Bruins fired him, but they didn't. This time, they didn't miss their chance to move to an established head coach to try and turn the team around.