Todd McLellan to remain head coach of San Jose Sharks -NHL offseason Update
San Jose Sharks finally came out officially to squash previous rumours by confirming Todd McLellan’s position to remain as the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise’s head coach for the next upcoming regular season.
Sharks’ general manager, Doug Wilson, made the announcement on Monday, June 18, 2012.
"Todd is our coach, has been our coach," Wilson said. "The process we went through there was to look through this past year. Much like players have injuries and you want them to get healthy and get their honest feedback, I'll be honest with you, with Todd,
I liked the idea of giving him a little bit of time not just for his emotions but how he's feeling. He took a pretty good whack in the head and he took another a few weeks after that. We used this time really well to understand what we need to address, where
we need to go and how we'll get there."
San Jose Sharks had been regulars when it came to the Western Conference Finals during the playoffs, but an early ousting this year, right in the opening round, Wilson and McLellan promised to play more aggressively in each and every aspect.
With California based rivals, the Los Angeles Kings, bringing home the Stanley Cup this year, the pressure has mounted on the San Jose Sharks to show something in this regard. They also have yet to win a Stanley Cup and next season should be one that they
aim towards pleasing their fan base.
Following the announcement, McLellan also hinted at the fact that he might be making some significant changes in the coaching staff in order to improve the team’s functionality. Brining in some new faces could charge the players and eventually give them
that much needed boost.
There are a number of aspects that McLellan is looking to fix before the upcoming regular season and the penalty kill is definitely one of them. Having the second worst in the league, San Jose Sharks struggled to keep the opposition out when a player went
into the penalty box.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the next season will differ from the last.
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