#MARK SPECTOR PRO AUDIO SERIES#

There were five years as a minor pro head coach, three as a Red Wings assistant, and suddenly, heвЂ™ll coach game No. He spent the year in North Battleford, and then six more with Swift Current of the WHL. I was 24 at the time, we had players who were almost 21.вЂќ вЂњI opened up the (Saskatoon) StarPhoenix, and there was an ad in the newspaper for a coach in North Battleford in the Saskatchewan Junior League,вЂќ he said. McLellan found himself at home one summer, a one-year contract to go back to Holland and coach looking less and less appealing each day that his flight overseas drew closer. But somehow, we always got new skates in the fall.вЂќ In August, you could feel it a little bit, that there wasnвЂ™t as much money in the family. вЂњWe didnвЂ™t have a lot of money,вЂќ he recalled in a 2015 interview we did together, вЂњbut the one thing we always had, my brother and I and my sister, we always had new skates. HeвЂ™d grown up in small-town Saskatchewan, the son of an RCMP officer who moved through towns like Goodeve, Melville and Goodsoil before settling in Saskatoon. McLellanвЂ™s coaching career started when he was sitting at home in Saskatchewan, a broken down ex-NHLer of five career games, with a bum shoulder and an equally promising future. He taught me a lot of things by the simple eloquence of his example,вЂќ said Woodcroft. вЂњTodd has had a profound impact on me, not only as a young coach but (as) a young person. HeвЂ™ll start his second 1,000-game segment trying to outsmart his protГ©gГ©, a guy who gleaned as much as he could from McLellan before setting out on his own.

1,000 on Monday in L.A., a sloppy 6-1 loss to Seattle that left the Oilers just two points back of the Kings with a game in hand. But certainly IвЂ™ve had the good fortune of being around some really good hockey coaches, Todd being one of them.вЂќ My biggest influences were my parents, my brothers, now my wife and kids. вЂњHave I learned from some of my influencers? For sure. I knew right off the bat, the only way you can do that is by being yourself. вЂњWhen I made the decision to go down to Bakersfield and become my own head coach, it was with the intent of being an NHL head coach. Not in any way,вЂќ began Woodcroft on Tuesday. Is he the same coach as McLellan, just in a different package?

#MARK SPECTOR PRO AUDIO SERIES#

Three coaches later, Woodcroft is hoping to get this team its first official playoff victory since that Anaheim series back in '17.ДЄnd if he wants to go past Round 1, heвЂ™ll have to beat the man who groomed him, as McLellan took Woodcroft from Detroit, to San Jose, and up here to the Big E. McLellan got Edmonton to within a win of the Conference Final in 2017, and it was supposed to be a Stanley Cup chase from that moment on.

TheyвЂ™ll meet Wednesday, again in nine days in L.A., and as the playoff picture unfolds, quite likely again in May as first-round opponents. and Edmonton conveniently slotted as the second and third place clubs in the Pacific. Today, Woodcroft has arrived in McLellanвЂ™s old spot behind the Edmonton bench, his former mentor long since fired and installed in Los Angeles just in time to line-match down the playoff stretch against the guy they call вЂњWoody,вЂќ with L.A. Jay Woodcroft was the assistant coach on those teams, and would have to go south to Bakersfield before coming back north as an NHL head coach. Todd McLellan had the Entry Level Edmonton Oilers, the first head coach that Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse would have as full-time NHL players. EDMONTON - Sometimes, itвЂ™s simply about timing.

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