McLellan's road to recovery

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PITTSBURGHNHL head coaches have it pretty easy at the draft.

They arent involved in the player selection process, and get to watch the majority of proceedings from a catered, in-arena suite.

At the same time, theres plenty of socializing and catching up to do. In fact, Sharks head coach Todd McLellan, Red Wings boss Mike Babcock and Ottawa's Paul MacLean were engaged in what appeared to be an entertaining and raucous conversation on the draft floor at the end of the first day. McLellan and MacLean, of course, were on Babcocks Red Wings staff together a few years back, and remain close.

Having not seen McLellan myself for a couple months after the season ended, one thing is evidenthe looks and sounds much healthier than he did when the Sharks were eliminated by St. Louis at the end of April. Hes noticeably lost weight, and now that its been made official that hes returning to coach the Sharks next season, there isnt any added stress about his job security.

Its taken several months for McLellan to recover from a concussion after taking an inadvertent yet vicious stick to the head in Minnesota on Feb. 26.

That was tough for me because I lived the concussion part of it for the rest of the season. I had headaches, and lived on Tylenol for the most part, he said. I went for a physical at the end of the year, and obviously had to make some changes to get healthier and to help that process. Ive done that now over the summer, and I feel pretty good and ready to go.

And the weight loss?

That was part of it. I had to get to the point where I didnt live on Tylenol all the time. Some of that comes with the stress of coaching and the games and all that type of stuff. Once the year is over there is less of that. You get a little more rest. That was the big part, just dealing with it the right way.

McLellan was actually hit a second time after the original blow by then-Wild defenseman Marco Scandella, which probably didnt help matters. He missed two games immediately after the original incident, and perhaps as a result of the second blow four weeks later, dealt with the headaches and concussion symptoms for the rest of the year and in the playoffs.

He was adamant that it didnt affect his job or responsibilities, though. No, no, he said.

McLellan didnt want to give an exact date as to when he knew he was officially coming back as the head coach, although we reported here on May 15 that it was a virtual certainty he would return, based on several sources.

He remains confident in himself and his staff despite the recent disappointing first round exit.

In my mind, I felt very good about the things that weve accomplished here and moving forward, and I felt very confident about our group moving forward, McLellan said. I was confident in the job that weve done and we can do moving forward.

That staff could be getting an addition. Its believed the Sharks are going to find at least one new body, likely to take over penalty killing duties for assistant coach Jay Woodcroft. Woodcroft and fellow assistant Matt Shaw are likely to be retained, but their roles could change.

There was one report here in Pittsburgh that former Blue Jackets head coach Scott Arniel was going to join the Sharks staff, but that was quickly refuted. Other names mentioned include former defenseman Bryan Marchment and current development coach and former NHL forward Mike Ricci.

Whoever it is has to make sense, said McLellan.

Were not going to add just for the sake of adding, he said. Were going to add if we believe theres somebody there that fills a role that we feel we need, and we can find that guy. Theres a chance that could happen.

Like our team, were trying to improve. Matt and Jay and myself are looking at our staff and things that we do well, and things that wed like to do better, areas we can maybe polish up on. Thats what were doing right now. Were evaluating the way we play, the way we want to play, things we like about our game, how we teach. Just basically a complete review, and inventory, for lack of a better word.

As for the draft, McLellan seemed to be in good spirits and enjoying himself while pressing the flesh with the players selected by general manager Doug Wilson and staff. Four of the Sharks six picks were in the stands in Pittsburgh when their names were called, and got a chance to meet in person the men that run the organization.

I get excited about getting introduced to our draft picks, to see young men smiling and getting rewarded for all the work theyve done to this point. Thats the fun part.

Fortunately, McLellan is smiling like a draft pick again, too.

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