DETROIT — It’s been a whirlwind summer for Derek Lalonde.
On June 26, Lalonde was at Amalie Arena for Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final, serving as an assistant coach with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Five days later, he was introduced at Little Caesars Arena as the 28th head coach in Detroit Red Wings history. Then on July 7, Lalonde was with Detroit’s brass at the Bell Centre in Montreal for the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.
Lalonde’s busy schedule continued after the draft, as the 50-year-old finalized his coaching staff and met the club’s top prospects during 2022 Development Camp at Little Caesars Arena.
And now, with less than a month until Training Camp, Lalonde said it “still hasn’t sunk in” that he’s the head coach for an Original Six franchise.
“One thing about being a career coach is that you go about your business,” Lalonde recently told DetroitRedWings.com. “It’s never about the next job or getting to the top, it’s about concentrating on where you’re at. That’s engrained in me a little bit, so maybe I haven’t had that moment yet.”
Lalonde arrived in Detroit after spending the past four seasons with the Lightning, who earned four straight postseason berths and three consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearances. Before his time in Tampa Bay, Lalonde was head coach for the Minnesota Wild’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Iowa Wild, as well as Detroit’s East Coast Hockey League affiliate, the Toledo Walleye, and the United States Hockey League’s Green Bay Gamblers.
Video: Derek Lalonde | Head Coach Press Conference
Prior to making his head coaching debut, Lalonde was an assistant coach at the University of Denver, Ferris State University (Big Rapids, Mich.), Hamilton College and Lebanon Valley College. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
When reflecting on his coaching journey, Lalonde believes there’s a blueprint for team success.
“I’ve been fortunate to be on successful teams and teams that have won,” he said. “When you ultimately start playing for that guy next to you, that becomes really powerful.”
For Lalonde, his first order of business in Detroit is ensuring his players buy into the process.
“When we were in Tampa Bay, it took us time to judge ourselves on process over outcome,” Lalonde said. “A perfect example is the year we won 62 games because we were not judging ourselves. We were rewarded with winning. There were holes in our game and times where we did not play winning hockey, but we…
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