Detroit Red Wings hire Tampa Bay Lightning assistant Derek Lalonde as new head coach

Derek Lalonde (courtesy Detroit Red Wings Communications)

FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Derek Lalonde (born August 18, 1972) is an American ice hockey coach who is the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League (NHL).

COACHING CAREER

Lalonde’s coaching career began as a graduate assistant at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts from 1995 to 1997. In 1998, Lalonde began a 2-year stint as an assistant coach at Lebanon Valley College, followed by 2 seasons as an assistant at Hamilton College.

Lalonde’s assistant coaching stints continued at Ferris State University from 2002 to 2006, and the University of Denver from 2006 to 2011. He began his head coaching for the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) from 2011 to 2014, where he accumulated a record of 114–56–8–6. He was named the USHL’s Coach of the Year in 2012 after the Gamblers posted a 47–9–2–2 record and won the Gamblers’ fourth Clark Cup title. In 2013, Lalonde served as a coach at the Tampa Bay Lightning development camp.

He then served as the head coach of the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL from 2014 to 2016. He led the Walleye to a 97–35–7–5 record and two consecutive Brabham Cup titles as the ECHL’s regular-season champion. In his first season in 2014, he led the Walleye to a 50–15–5–2 record and won the John Brophy Award as the ECHL’s Coach of the Year. He then served as the head coach of the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League (AHL) from 2016 to 2018, where he posted a 69–58–17–8 record. He served as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL from 2018 to 2022, helping lead the team to consecutive Stanley Cup titles in 2020 and 2021.

On June 30, 2022, he was named the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings of the NHL.

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