Teams showing interest in Quenneville and McLellan
Sportsnet: Nick Kypreos suggests that teams have shown some interest in recently fired head coaches Joel Quenneville and Todd McLellan.
“Some NHL teams are inquiring about Joel Quenneville and Todd McLellan,” Kypreos said during the Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada Saturday. “I do know that you need permission to talk to these guys from their respective clubs – Chicago and Edmonton – but you can gauge interest indirectly through a third-party, and we believe that’s what’s happened with both of these guys in some capacity.”
Kypreos believes that there might have been some talk between the Edmonton Oilers and Quenneville before they hired Ken Hitchcock.
Continuing, Kypreos says that he’s starting to hear some LA Kings and McLellan talk. If the Kings feel like they’ve found the right guy, they could replace interim coach Willie Desjardins at any time.
Kings not going after McLellan
Jon Rosen: (after Kypreos’ report) The Los Angeles Kings are not courting coach Todd McLellan.
Lisa Dillman: Checked with a source about the Kings reported interest in coach McLellan and was told “No.”
The Blues coaching search
SI: St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong will be creating a large list of candidates for the eventual hire of a permanent heading coach.
”There’s going to be experienced head coaches on that list,” he said at a news conference Tuesday. ”There’s going to be European head coaches on that list. College head coaches on that list. Junior head coaches. We’re not going to minimize or limit the scope that we’re going to look at.”
Armstrong added that it’s unlikely they’ll hire a new coach in-season, but it is possible.