DETROIT, Mich. (WFRV) – Former Green Bay Gamblers Head Coach/GM Derek Lalonde will be the next coach for the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Detroit Red Wings.
Lalonde, a 49-year-old from Brasher Falls, New York, coached the Gamblers from 2011 to 2014. After taking over in 2011, he led the Gamblers to a championship with a 47-9-4 record. The team took down the Waterloo Black Hawks in Game 5.
Going into his second year with the Gamblers, Lalonde led the team to a second-place finish in the United States Hockey League’s Eastern Conference, but ultimately fell in the quarterfinals of the playoffs to the Youngstown Phantoms.
His last season with the Gamblers came in 2013-14 when the Gamblers finished fourth in the conference and snuck into the playoffs, before bowing out to the Indiana Ice 1-3 in the quarterfinals.
The New York native spent the last four seasons as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning, winning two Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021.
Lalonde hopes to bring his winning ways to Detroit where the Red Wings have struggled the last several years, failing to make the playoffs in six consecutive years.
The Red Wings finished 2022 with 74 total points and a 32-40-10 record.
