Todd McLellan no longer a candidate to coach Columbus Blue Jackets
So much for Todd McLellan being the Blue Jackets’ next head coach.
Sources have informed the Dispatch that McLellan, 56, is out of the mix after salary negotiations broke down between the longtime NHL coach and team. The Los Angeles Kings, who fired McLellan with a year left on a $5.5 million contract, remain on the hook for his final year of salary unless he finds a new coaching job, which most thought would be with Columbus.
According to sources, talks on a multi-year deal with the Blue Jackets went back and forth for at least a couple weeks, but an official contract offer was never extended to McLellan that would've made him the 11th full-time head coach in franchise history. A source told the Dispatch that McLellan was excited about the prospect of coming to Columbus and wasn't asking for $5.5 million per season. The Dispatch was also told the Kings weren't a stumbling block on their end, offering to eat up to $2 million of McLellan's final year and leaving $3.5 million for the Blue Jackets next season.
Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell was unable to be reached Tuesday about McLellan's decision to back out of talks and declined to comment when reached Wednesday.
While the development doesn’t mean the Blue Jackets won’t take another swing at meeting McLellan's requirements — which a source told the Dispatch was roughly $4 million per season over four years — he’s out of the running. The Dispatch has learned the Jackets were willing to add the fourth year, but wanted it to include a $1 million buyout that wasn't enough for McLellan to agree with it.
Now that he's out, the other two finalists are believed to be former Edmonton Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft, one of McLellan’s former longtime assistants, and former Minnesota Wild coach Dean Evason. The search is now expected to stretch later into July.
Keeping the Blue Jackets' current assistants for the final year of their contracts is not believed to be a pre-requisite for whomever gets the job.
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The Dispatch learned Tuesday that Tampa Bay Lightning assistant Jeff Blashill, who has connections with Waddell through USA Hockey, is not in the mix.
Waddell, who took over as the Jackets’ new president of hockey operations/GM in late May, made the decision to fire former coach Pascal Vincent on June 17. Vincent had one year left of his contract, which he signed last September after former coach Mike Babcock was forced to resign amid allegations he violated players’ privacy during 1-on-1 summer meetings.
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After firing Vincent, Waddell said that NHL head coaching experience would play a big role in hiring the Blue Jackets’ next bench boss. McLellan has a lot of it with 1,144 games for three separate teams to his credit, including experience with rebuilding teams in Edmonton and L.A. The Dispatch also learned this week that Joel Quenneville, a three-time Stanley Cup winner with the Chicago Blackhawks, was not being considered.
Quenneville was recently granted permission to seek NHL positions by commissioner Gary Bettman after resigning as Florida Panthers coach in 2021 amid allegations that the sexual abuse of former player Kyle Beach was ignored during his time with the Blackhawks.
Woodcroft and Evason have prior NHL experience as head coaches, but not as extensive as McLellan.
In Woodcroft’s case, his experience in the head coaching role with the Oilers isn’t much more than Larsen’s or Vincent’s in Columbus, but he did coach a team with superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Other available names with loads of NHL experience include Gerard Gallant, Bruce Boudreau and Bob Hartley.
Gallant's first NHL head coaching experience was with the Blue Jackets and the 60-year old coach has indicated recently that he'd love to return. Boudreau, 69, is currently working as a TV studio analyst with NHL Network and last coached with the Vancouver Canucks in 2023. Hartley, 63, hasn't coached in the NHL since 2016 with the Calgary Flames, but he coached five years for Waddell with the Atlanta Thrashers, who've since become the Winnipeg Jets.
Waddell hoped to have the search done this week, but that was with McLellan in the lead spot. Subtracting McLellan likely adds a week or two to the hiring timeframe.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: McLellan out of Blue Jackets' coaching search
