- Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News: After the news of the Sharks and Todd McLellan “mutual parting,” the pressure now turns to GM Doug Wilson.
“I see this being a playoff team,” Wilson said Monday after Sharks’ head coach Todd McLellan was no longer the Sharks’ head coach following a “mutual parting” announcement.
“We’re going to bounce back very quickly,” Wilson added.
McLellan realized that he wasn’t also on the same page with Wilson with regards to the Sharks rebuilding plans.
“With one year left, I had to analyze where everything was going,” said McLellan, who asked Wilson some questions about the team’s future course.
“I felt, with some of the answers I got, it was time,” McLellan said. “Part of it, I controlled and part of it the team controlled. We finalized things yesterday.”
Wilson now has to find a coach that is better then McLellan, something that won’t be easy. It may take some time.
“We will do a thorough search, and I’m not sure it’s going to be time sensitive,” Wilson said. “It’s more important for us to get the guy that fits for us for a long time.”
- Pierre LeBrun: McLellan has the Sharks permission to speak with other teams immediately, as long as they are kept in the loop.
- Craig Custance: McLellan coaching the Oilers makes so much sense. Even more so if they can convince Todd Nelson to stick around.
- Hockey Central: McLellan had never discussed a contract extension with the Sharks.
- Kevin Kurz: McLellan said that he is not going to pick up his family and move. That could make Western Conference teams more attractive to him than possibly the Flyers or Maple Leafs.
- Nick Cotsonika: If you are McLellan, why not wait until Mike Babcock decides where he’ll be next season. After Babcock decides, he would be the top guy with multiple teams being interested and desperate. It’s a good time to be a coach looking for work. There are good options available and there could be bidding wars. He needed a change of scenery.
- Jonas Siegel: One thing to remember with regards to McLellan and the Maple Leafs: Brendan Shanahan said they would be adverse to hiring a coach before hiring a GM.