Sharks, McLellan set for ‘special' reunion in Edmonton

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SAN JOSE -– For the first time since Todd McLellan and the Sharks parted ways last April, the coach will face his former team on Wednesday night in Edmonton at Rexall Place.

Logan Couture was as vocal a supporter as McLellan had, even after the dysfunction of last season. When asked if the team was behind McLellan on locker clean-out day last April, Couture replied: “I am. You’re going to have to ask 20 other guys. For me, I definitely wouldn’t be the player I am without Todd and this whole coaching staff.”

Perhaps that’s why Couture has stayed in touch with the man who was the bench boss for the first six seasons of his NHL career.

What’s it going to be like seeing McLellan coaching the Oilers?

“Different. I respect that whole coaching staff so much,” Couture said on Monday, also referring to Oilers assistants Jay Woodcroft and Jim Johnson, who accompanied McLellan north after they were discharged by the Sharks. 

“I hope to see [McLellan] in the morning, talk to him a little bit, catch up. I’ve texted back and forth here and there with him. Just to see him will be fun, but we want to beat him.”

Current Sharks coach Pete DeBoer has also been in touch with McLellan, after the two formed “a bond” last May at the World Championships in the Czech Republic, in DeBoer’s words. McLellan was the head coach and DeBoer one of his assistants for the gold medal-winning Canadian squad.

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They will be paired together in the same roles at the World Cup of Hockey next September as part of the North American “Young Guns” team, featuring the best players 23 years of age and younger from the United States and Canada.

[RELATED: Sharks coach DeBoer, McLellan reunite for World Cup]

Listening to DeBoer speak about McLellan, it’s evident he has tremendous admiration for the Sharks’ all-time wins leader as both a hockey mind and an individual.

“I’ve got a lot of respect and time for Todd. He’s a good man. He’s a good coach,” DeBoer said.

“For him, obviously he’s got a lot of emotional investment in this group, this city and this team. I think for him, I’m sure it’s going to be a special game, and probably for a lot of our players who Todd spent a lot of time with and did a hell of a job with for a long time. For me, coming from the outside, I’m a little removed from that, but I know that’s going to be an important game on a lot of different fronts.”

DeBoer has already experienced a similar type of reunion that McLellan will on Wednesday. Less than two months ago he coached the Sharks in New Jersey, where he spent three-and-a-half seasons as the Devils head coach, including a run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012.

McLellan, though, spent seven years with the Sharks, while DeBoer never made it through a fourth season in New Jersey or Florida, where he started his NHL head coaching career in 2008.

“This will be even more magnified just because the amount of time Todd was here, double the amount of time I’ve been in those spots, and the success they had,” DeBoer said. “Those guys went through a lot of wars together. I don’t pretend to know what that investment will feel like, but I’m sure it will be big. It will be an important game.”

[KURZ: How will DeBoer differ from McLellan?]

Joe Pavelski, a seventh round draft pick in 2003, also credited McLellan for helping him get acclimated to the best hockey league in the world. He expects the Oilers, who have won four of their last five, to be prepared.

“He’s meant a lot to my career and a lot of guys in here. With a coach for seven years, you learn a lot,” Pavelski said. “It’s one of those things, it’s another game and we’ll play hard. I’m sure he’ll try to have his guys ready, too.”

McLellan posted a 311-163-66 record in seven seasons with the Sharks from 2008-2015, and is the franchise’s leader in wins, games (540) and points percentage (.637). His teams captured three Pacific Division titles, one President’s Trophy in 2009, and made six appearances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Oilers visit the Sharks on Jan. 14 in what will be McLellan's first appearance at SAP Center as a visiting head coach.

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