The Toronto Maple Leafs officially announced on Friday the addition of Derek Lalonde to their coaching staff as an assistant. This move filled a vacancy on head coach Craig Berube’s staff after associate coach Lane Lambert departed to become the Seattle Kraken’s new bench boss.
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The hiring marks Lalonde’s return to an NHL bench after he was fired last December, midway through his third season running the Detroit Red Wings’ bench. During his two-and-a-half seasons with Detroit, Lalonde compiled a record of 89-86-23.
Before his time in Detroit, Lalonde served as an assistant on Jon Cooper’s staff with the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021. While it's not immediately clear what attracted the Leafs to Lalonde, given his lack of a prior relationship with Berube or Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving, he has spent some of his recent years working in Toronto as an analyst during Hockey Night in Canada’s playoff coverage. This includes Toronto’s 2023 playoff run and their first-round series against the Ottawa Senators this spring.
Interestingly, Lalonde shared some key insights from his time in Tampa during the Leafs' pivotal 2023 playoff series against the Lightning. A former goalie himself, Lalonde revealed during an intermission broadcast that Tampa had adjusted their defensive strategy around goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. This change came after a study they commissioned showed Vasilevskiy had one of the lowest success percentages in tracking pucks from the point. The Leafs leveraged this information to their advantage, ultimately winning their first playoff series in 19 years by defeating Tampa in six games. While his decision to reveal this information sparked some ethical debate, what was undeniably clear was his keen understanding of coaching and strategy.
Vasilevskiy finished the series with a save percentage of .875.
Lalonde's coaching journey includes significant success in the AHL and ECHL. He served as head coach of the American Hockey League's Iowa Wild from 2016-18, compiling a 69-58-17-8 record. Before that, he spent two seasons with the ECHL’s Toledo Walleye (2014-16), leading the team to an impressive 97-35-7-5 record. During his first season in 2014-15, Lalonde guided the Walleye to a 50-15-5-2 mark, winning the Brabham Cup as the ECHL's regular-season champion and earning the John Brophy Award as the ECHL's Coach of the Year.
His head coaching career began with the United States Hockey League's Green Bay Gamblers from 2011-14, where he amassed a 114-56-8-6 record as head coach and general manager. In 2011-12, he was named the USHL's Coach of the Year after the Gamblers posted a 47-9-2-2 record and captured the organization's fourth Clark Cup title.
Lalonde's coaching philosophy
At the cornerstone of Lalonde's defensive strategy was "low-event" hockey, a philosophy designed to minimize high-danger scoring chances while reducing the number of goals against. That was actually one of the few bright spots in Lalonde's tenure. The only issue came on the offensive side of the game. In Detroit he was often criticized for his dump-and-chase style of play in the offensive zone. But his low-event brand of hockey on the defensive side of things should play well under Berube's philosophy and make for the right type of defensive-minded coach to replace Lambert.
Toward the end of his tenure in Detroit, Lalonde' team had the worst penalty kill in the NHL. Before his time in Detroit, Lalonde had established a culture of winning and had a reputation for forming good bonds with players that should carry him well in Toronto.
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