Wings’ Todd McLellan punishes his players ON and OFF the ice!

Head coach Todd McLellan is not sugar coating it for the Detroit Red Wings. One game into the 2025-26 season and he’s had enough.

In their home opener on Thursday night, the Wings fell 5-1 to the visiting Montreal Canadiens, and they did not impressed their fanbase, or their coach for that matter.

After the loss, McLellan was not afraid to hold his players accountable and called them out during the postgame presser:

“The players will say, ‘they probably have already said to you, ‘We can fix this.’ …When? It’s time. Some of them have been doing it for years. It’s time.”

Then on Friday, when it was time to solve the issues on the ice, McLellan held an up-tempo practice and had a meeting on the ice with players to get back on the same page.

“I actually asked a couple, maybe three or four players, Are we tired of this yet?“ McLellan said on Friday, per Helene St. James.

The head coach shook up the lines at practice, with newcomers James Van Riemsdyk and Jacob Bernard-Docker are in for Elmer Soderblom and Travis Hamonic.

The Red Wings host the Maple Leafs on Saturday, after Toronto kicked off its season with a victory over the Habs.

I wonder if McLellan’s tough approach and tough love will work for his players in their second game of the season.

To see which Maple Leafs’ players they are likely to face, get the lineup news here: