The Toronto Maple Leafs hired former Detroit Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde as an assistant coach on Friday. But between the time the Wings fired Lalonde midway through this season and the time Toronto hired him, he’s kept busy.
There’s a not-so-secret factor that keeps coaches in the spotlight when they aren’t behind the bench, and that’s the media.
Yes, the adversary for many hockey executives can also be a lifeline thrown to them in between coaching jobs.
Lalonde won two Stanley Cup championships as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021, and he wasn’t a total washout as Red Wings coach, either, putting up an 89-86-23 record in three seasons before he was fired in December.
Instead of staying out of the spotlight, Lalonde appeared as an analyst on Sportsnet. He worked the NHL trade deadline and select games earlier in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Even while he coached the Red Wings, he was a playoff analyst on Sportsnet before, including in the 2023 playoffs when the Maple Leafs faced the Lightning. Being an analyst was a solid choice, as he provided great insight for TV viewers.
Lalonde is hardly the first coach to go the broadcasting route between coaching gigs.
Longtime coach John Tortorella, who’s not afraid to challenge the media, has taken TV jobs with TSN and ESPN before. Rick Tocchet appeared on TNT before the Vancouver Canucks hired him in 2023. More recently, veteran coach Bruce Boudreau has worked the circuit, often on TSN but also multiple times on The Hockey News Big Show, among other shows. Retired coach Rick Bowness has appeared on Sportsnet and TNT as well.
Being on air is a tidy way to keep your name in the hockey community vernacular as a coaching candidate, and fans always have an easier time relating to you if they see what personality and acumen you bring to the table by watching your viewpoint on TV.
That was true for Lalonde, who was affable and insightful in the limited time he was out of work in NHL circles.
Now, he’s also going to get a bump in recognition by working in Maple Leafs-crazed Toronto, the same way Lane Lambert – the guy Lalonde replaced with the Leafs – got a bump in recognition in just one year as an assistant with the Buds after being the head coach of the New York Islanders.
Lambert’s increased profile with Toronto certainly didn’t hurt his cause, and he’s now the new coach of the Seattle Kraken. Things worked out about as well as Lambert could’ve hoped. And Lalonde would be lying if he told you he still didn’t aspire to getting another shot as a coach somewhere down the line.
The coaching industry churns and burns coaches faster than ever, but what never changes is the fact that broadcasters are always looking for people in the coaching bubble to provide a glimpse at what mentalities go into being behind an NHL bench.
When it comes down to it, it’s one part of the circle of life for coaches. And Lalonde now has a new lease on his coaching career.
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