Kings honor McLellan for 1,000 games

Todd McLellan coached in his 1,000th NHL game when the Los Angeles Kings took on the Seattle Kraken at Crypto.com Arena on Monday.
To celebrate, the Kings put together a video tribute for their coach, in which some of the best players in the world thanked McLellan for his contributions to the game.

"I definitely learned a lot from you my first couple of years here in Edmonton and I'm so grateful for that," Edmonton Oilers forward Connor McDavid said.
In 2005, McLellan, a former NHL player, returned to the League as an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings. McLellan was then named the head coach of the San Jose Sharks (2008) and Oilers (2015) before joining the Kings in 2019.

"On behalf of the whole team, we'd like to congratulate you on your 1,000 games as a head coach and hopefully many more to come," Kings captain Anze Kopitar said.
McLellan was selected by the New York Islanders in the fifth round (No. 104) of the 1986 NHL Draft. When a recurring shoulder injury ended his career, coaching seemed like the natural next step. Thirty years later, McLellan is the 31st coach in NHL history to reach 1,000 games.
"One thousand games. That's a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of early mornings and a lot of video watching," Kings president Luc Robitaille said. "We know how much passion you put behind the game, on behalf of all of us again, congratulations."