Programming note: Sharks-Ducks coverage starts tonight at 6:30 p.m. on Comcast SportsNet California with Sharks Pregame Live (territory restrictions apply)
ANAHEIM – No one is questioning Sharks head coach Todd McLellan’s job status these days.
That wasn’t the case a little more than three weeks ago. Headed into a game against the Anaheim Ducks on Nov. 29 the Sharks had a 10-10-4 record, including just a 2-5-2 mark in their last nine. San Jose had dropped the first three games of a six-game homestand to Florida, Arizona and Calgary, including two in a shootout.
Three days before the Sharks started to turn their season around thanks to a 6-4 win over Anaheim – sparking a run of nine wins in their last 10 games – several Sharks players went to bat for McLellan, who has never missed the playoffs in 20 straight years of coaching at various levels.
On Monday in Anaheim, McLellan, still regarded as one of the best NHL coaches in the game, spoke honestly about how he deals with such rumors when they begin to surface.
“I know that can start real quick again. We just come to work every day and work hard,” McLellan said.
“Those are the clichés that coaches will give you, but when those rumors start, you’re not prepared as a coach. You don’t get the training for that. You can spend as many games as you want in the league and learn about power play, penalty kill, matching lines, all that type of stuff. When that happens, you’ve got to stay focused. You have to have people around you that keep you focused on your task and your job.
“The staff that I’m fortunate to have here did that. We focused on what we needed to do and worried about that. Pulled through it. That can happen again awfully quick, especially in our league.”
The Sharks coaching staff consists of associate coach Larry Robinson, Jim Johnson, Jay Woodcroft, Corey Schwab and Mike Ricci.
