Todd McLellan reveals what he really thinks of Shawn Horcoff's work with the Red Wings

The Red Wings coach is backing Horcoff this afternoon, and he's describing a relationship that runs from the walk into the rink to the lunch table.

That matters because Horcoff is working with limited help around him. When the group is that small, the bond between the people making the calls carries a lot of weight.

Helene St. James passed along the coach's description of how often the two talk, and it sounds like a conversation that never really stops.

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The picture the coach paints is constant contact. Walking to the rink together, grabbing lunch, getting on the phone to ask for an update. Horcoff doesn't just hand down a decision, either. He asks the coach how the team would react to an idea before he moves on it.

That is a coach being treated as a sounding board, not just someone who gets told about moves after the fact.

For a team that has to make decisions with a thin staff, that kind of access is a real asset. Fewer voices in the room means each one counts for more.

Is a close coach and Horcoff bond enough for the Red Wings?

It helps, and it's better than the alternative. A coach who feels heard is more likely to believe in the direction, and a decision-maker who tests ideas against the locker room before acting is less likely to be surprised by how a move lands.

But a good relationship doesn't replace bodies. Scouting, analytics and player development take hands, and Horcoff has fewer of them than most of his peers around the league. The coach's public support buys goodwill, not extra staff.

Still, the way this was said is telling. Nobody covers for a relationship that's strained by describing the lunches and the phone calls in detail. The coach wants it known that the two are aligned.

What the Red Wings do with that alignment is the next thing to watch. The next lineup decision or roster move will show how much of that daily back-and-forth actually shapes what happens on the ice.

This article was written with the help of artificial intelligence, based on public reports and official sources.

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