"That roster is not good enough": NHL insider drops truth bomb over Red Wings firing Derek Lalonde to hire Todd McLellan

Last week, former Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde was fired and replaced by veteran coach Todd McLellan. It was no surprise after how the team struggled to begin the 2024-25 season.

They currently sit in seventh place in the Atlantic division with a 14-18-4 record, good for just 32 points. This puts Detroit eight points out of the final Wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference with six other teams ahead of them in the race.

Detroit's poor play led to Derek Lalonde's firing, with hopes that Todd McLellan would shore up some of the defensive woes in the team's game. The Red Wings have gone 1-1-0 with McLellan.

It doesn't sound like Daily Faceoff hockey insider Frank Seravalli needs to see any more from the Red Wings. Here's what he had to say about the state of the Wings in an appearance on the "Flames Nation" on Tuesday:

"Um, I don't know if that makes Steve Yzerman look like a good guy, bad guy at the end of the day. To me, it's all human shield. That roster is just not good enough to compete. And so I don't care if Scotty Bowman returned and was the head coach in his prime.

"I don't think you're getting much more out of this group than what they've currently got when they had an opportunity last summer to do things a little bit differently, finding cap space to sign Vladimir Tarasenko to a two-year deal, that's not what that team needed,"

Seravalli added:

"It comes back to defense, and when you have Chiarot and Petry and Holl and all these guys that have been through a revolving door. Gostisbehere was through there at one point. It's not working, and it comes down to player evaluation from the management team that stands out to me."

Those are pretty blunt comments from Seravalli, though it's hard to argue with him seeing how little success Detroit has had over the last several years.

Red Wings transition from Derek Lalonde to Todd McLellan needs to work

It's yet to be seen whether swapping Derek Lalonde out for Todd McLellan will be a beneficial change for Steve Yzerman's Red Wings. McLellan has only been in town for a week, but that doesn't change the fact that Detroit needs to turn things around quickly.

According to MoneyPuck, Detroit already has just a 2% chance of making the playoffs, the sixth-worst odds of any team in the NHL. For a team that had playoff aspirations, there will be no easing into the coaching change of Derek Lalonde to Todd McLellan. The Detroit Red Wings must start winning games.

The Red Wings return to the ice Tuesday night to face the Pittsburgh Penguins at Little Caesars Arena. The puck drops at 8 p.m. EST.