McLellan named Head Coach of Canadian entry for World Hockey Championships

(from hockeycanada.ca)

Jim Nill, general manager of Canada’s National Men’s Team, announced Tuesday that Todd McLellan (Melville, Sask./San Jose, NHL) will be Canada’s head coach at the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship, scheduled for May 1-17, 2015 in Prague and Ostrava, Czech Republic.


Peter DeBoer (Dunnville, Ont.), Bill Peters (Three Hills, Alta./Carolina, NHL) and Jay Woodcroft (Toronto, Ont./San Jose, NHL) will join McLellan behind the bench as assistant coaches.

“This is a coaching staff with extensive experience in the NHL and knowledge of the international game, as well,” said Nill. “As a management group we are excited to work with this staff, and look forward to building a roster and representing Canada in the Czech Republic next month.”

Nill is working with a management group comprised of George McPhee (Guelph, Ont.), Sean Burke (Windsor, Ont./Phoenix, NHL), Pat Verbeek (Sarnia, Ont./Tampa Bay, NHL), Claude Loiselle (Ottawa, Ont.) and Scott Salmond (Creston, B.C.), Hockey Canada’s vice-president of hockey operations and national teams.

Todd McLellan (pictured above), 47, just finished his seventh season as head coach of the NHL’s San Jose Sharks. He has led the Sharks to three division championships and the President’s Trophy in 2008-09, and is the winningest coach in franchise history. Previously, McLellan spent three seasons as an assistant coach with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, winning the Stanley Cup in 2008, and won the Calder Cup as head coach of the AHL’s Houston Aeros in 2003. He also spent six seasons as head coach and general manager of the WHL’s Swift Current Broncos from 1994-2000; McLellan was named WHL executive of the year in 1996-97, and WHL coach of the year in 1999-2000. He has one previous experience with Team Canada, winning a bronze medal as an assistant coach with Canada’s National Junior Team at the 2000 IIHF World Junior Championship. McLellan was drafted by the New York Islanders in the fifth round of the 1986 NHL Entry Draft, and played five NHL games with the Islanders during the 1987-88 season.


Canada’s roster will be comprised of players not involved in the NHL playoffs. Canada can also add players eliminated during the Stanley Cup playoffs, and can register up to 25 players, including three goaltenders, on its official roster. 

Canada opens the 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship against Latvia on May 1. It will also face Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland in preliminary round play.