Yzerman details coaching change: 'Everyone's frustrated'

Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman lifted the lid Friday on his decision to make a coaching change, one day after firing Derek Lalonde from his post.

"Recently, just watching our team play, the spirit was zapped out," Yzerman said. "Even sitting back watching our coaching staff, everyone's frustrated. It's not like they're not trying to win, not trying to figure it out, but you could see it in the players' faces.

"I think you would all sense it (during Saturday's 5-1 loss) in Montreal, even going back to (Dec. 9's shootout win in) Buffalo. ... You could start to sense the frustration, the will being zapped from everyone. ... There's never a right time, but this is the time it needed to be done."

Detroit moved on from Lalonde following a three-game losing streak that saw the team drop back-to-back games to the Montreal Canadiens before getting blanked by the St. Louis Blues on Monday.

The Red Wings entered the holiday break second-last in the Eastern Conference due to an underwhelming 13-17-4 start to the campaign. They rank 29th in goals per game (2.56) and 25th in goals against per contest (3.26), while their minus-23 goal differential is tied with the Nashville Predators for 31st in the league.

"Look at all the areas of our team," Yzerman said. "We need to be better in every aspect of it. That's obvious."

He added, "As our season started and has progressed to today, obviously you start to think about, 'How do you improve your team? How do we get going in the direction we want or playing the way we want to?' ... My thought process is, our team isn't performing to what my expectations are."

When asked if the Red Wings' players are good enough to meet his expectations, Yzerman responded affirmatively.

"That's why I make the (coaching) change," Yzerman said. "My expectation at the start of the year - if everything went well here with our team, everyone stayed healthy, everybody performed to expectations - I think with this group, we could compete for a wild-card spot. We're not there. We're not far off from that."

Detroit hasn't made the playoffs since 2016 as it works through a rebuild, and the club is currently eight points outside of the postseason picture.

Yzerman tabbed Todd McLellan as the man to right the ship.

"Ultimately, I was looking to hire the best coach I possibly could, and I believe Todd is the best coach available to us today," he said.

McLellan and the Red Wings will host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.