Todd McLellan

Todd Andrew McLellan (born October 3, 1967) is a Canadian former ice hockey player and current head coach of the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League. He has also served as the head coach of the San Jose Sharks (2008-2015), and as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings (2005-2008), with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2008.

Playing career

After living in Goodeve, Saskatchewan and Melville, Saskatchewan during his childhood, McLellan started his playing career with the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League from 1983 to 1987. In the 1986 NHL Entry Draft, he was drafted by the New York Islanders in the fifth round. He played a total of five games at the NHL level, spending most of two seasons with the Islanders' American Hockey League affiliate, the Springfield Indians. However, recurring shoulder injuries dating back to his junior hockey days ended McLellan's North American playing career after the 1988–89 season. He returned home to study at the University of Saskatchewan for a year, before resuming his playing career for S.IJ. Utrecht of the Eredivisie in the Netherlands. During his three seasons there, the team hired a new coach, who moved in with McLellan and made him a player-coach, which McLellan recognizes as the reason he became interested in coaching.