McLellan Shoulders Blame For Failure of Red Wings

Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

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Nick Turchiaro-Imagn ImagesNick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

As GM Steve Yzerman was quick to point out, it’s easy to pin the blame on the players for the latest playoff failure of the Detroit Red Wings.

I’m not going to sit here and just what’s the right word? Criticize, dump on our players, beat our players up,” Yzerman said. “

“We all have to take responsibility for it. “Ultimately, it’s incumbent upon me and my staff to improve the team.”

Sitting next to Yzerman as they dissected the team’s misfortune, coach Todd McLellan was also willing to wear his share of the blame.

“You can talk about leadership, captaincy, all that type of stuff,” McLellan said. “You’re looking at the guy. I’m the guy that’s responsible for it. I’m the captain of the ship. And we have to do a better job.

“We have to get players to do things they don’t want to do.”

McLellan Wants Red Wings to Play a Heavier Game

One of those aspects that McLellan plans to get the Red Wings to do whether they like it or not, is to play with a heaviness in their game.

“The heaviness part, the nastiness part, if it’s in there, it’s our job to draw it out of them,” McLellan said. “If we can’t get it out of them, maybe they can’t do it. But that starts with us, the resilience part, and the mental strength of the group as a whole.

“I can’t, or we can’t control everybody’s mental approach to the game, but we can try to control the heart of the team as much as we possibly can, and we have to do a better job of that.”

McLellan believes that as the season progressed and the competition level in the games ramped up, the Red Wings simply couldn’t keep pace with the rest of the league.

“The league plays out in four different phases, in my opinion,” McLellan said. “There’s the beginning, and then you settle in, the dog days, and then the push. And I talk more about the push than anything.

“When the push arrived, teams elevated. I don’t know if we stayed at the same spot or if we dropped. Some of the mistakes that we worked hard to correct showed their faces again down the stretch. And the season’s just long enough to expose your true team when it’s all said and done.”

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