WATCH ABOVE: Tuesday’s news conference during which the Oilers made officially announced McLellan as head coach.
EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers announced Tuesday the team had signed Todd McLellan as its new head coach.
“We are extremely happy to introduce Todd as our new head coach,” said Oilers General Manager Peter Chiarelli.
“He is a high energy person and a high level thinker who will work well and demand the most from our group. Todd has had success at many levels and we are looking forward to him leading our team next season.”
McLellan, 47, from Melville, Sask., appeared to be Edmonton’s top target for the position since Chiarelli took over as GM earlier this month, and reports of the impending announcement began swirling on Monday.
“Once I settled in and met with the people in this organization… I felt very comfortable with it,” said McLellan during Tuesday afternoon’s news conference.
McLellan spent six seasons in junior hockey as head coach of the Swift Current Broncos of the Western Hockey League, and also played in the WHL with the Saskatoon Blades before being drafted by the New York Islanders.
“I’m a Western Canada boy,” he added. “It’s not a job of convenience, don’t get me wrong there, but it fit for what I want to look for in the future as a coach: young players that are craving to win, finding ways to win.”
“Spent some time with Jordan and Taylor… it was evident that I think we would have some good days ahead,” said McLellan.
“They won’t all be great… there will be painful days ahead for all of us… but for me, your gut tells you when it’s right – and the people.”
Chiarelli said McLellan’s approach with young players helped make the decision.
“The reason why Todd was the top candidate in my mind was… watching his teams over the years, he’s taken teams… with a number of young players and taken them to a level where – although it’s short of a cup – close to a cup on a number of levels,” the GM said.
“I think he’s done a good job. His level of energy and his level of thinking really impressed me.”
McLellan spent the last seven seasons with the San Jose Sharks, making the playoffs in his first six. He has a career 311-163-66 coaching record in the regular season, but is 30-32 in the playoffs.
He recently coached Canada to its first gold at the World Hockey Championships since 2007.
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McLellan said he has thought about potentially coaching Connor McDavid, who he admitted to not seeing play
“This is a special player. He has a special skill set that fans are going to enjoy for a long time, but he’s still a young man.”
“It’s our job to make sure that we get the most out of him in a real good environment,” the new head coach said.
Dallas Eakins was fired as head coach in December. Todd Nelson filled in as an interim coach for the rest of the 2014-2015 season.
The Oilers have not made the playoffs since going to the Stanley Cup final in 2006.
“We’re not going to talk about playoffs here,” said McLellan. “We’re going to talk about foundation, creating an identity and building towards it.”
The future of Todd Nelson, who took over for Eakins in December and was a popular interim coach, was not immediately clear.
McLellan said he hasn’t had the chance to sit down with the current coaching staff yet. He said he wants to take time on that front, but added he and Nelson have a good relationship.
By the time training camp arrives, he said the team would have a full staff in place.
With files from The Canadian Press
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