Thunder coach Kevin McClelland facing uncertain future

Kevin McClelland seems to know that a decision regarding his future as Thunder hockey coach is imminent, but it’s difficult getting him to acknowledge that.

McClelland’s contract expires following the season, which ends Saturday – the Thunder plays its home finale Friday night against Tulsa. After Central Hockey League finals appearances in 2012 and ’13, Wichita has missed the playoffs three straight years, the last two in the ECHL.

The decision is likely to be made next week by Thunder owners Brandon, Johnny and Rodney Steven. McClelland said no meeting has been scheduled and that he wouldn’t prioritize one over the final days of his sixth season in Wichita.

“I really haven’t heard much,” McClelland said. “I can’t worry about that. I love this organization, it’s been great. My main focus has been trying to get the right people in here. Trying to see, if I’m here next year, who we would move forward with and what character guys you want back. That’s where I’m at. I can’t worry about stuff that’s not in my control.”

McClelland won four NHL Stanley Cups as a player with the Edmonton Oilers in the 1980s and reached the playoffs in seven of his first eight years as a coach, losing in the CHL Finals three times.

This season has been unlike anything McClelland has endured. The Thunder (18-40-6-6) owns the ECHL’s worst record and didn’t create a signature moment until winning seven of a 12-game stretch in March.

The Thunder has used 36 players, creating a roster largely unrecognizable compared to the start of the season. The recent changes have helped, but a loss to Tulsa on Wednesday assured that the Thunder wouldn’t catch Brampton, which owns the league’s second-worst record.

“You want to get back and get to those Finals years,” McClelland said. “Those are the fun times coming to the rink. The crowd is excited, the chitter-chatter is exciting around town, and that’s what we need to get back to.

“That doesn’t happen overnight. You take a little dip and get down to the bottom, it takes a little while to get back up.”

The question is whether McClelland will get that time. He operates under some constraints as one of two of the ECHL’s 28 teams without an NHL affiliation, as well as an ownership group that also owns Tulsa and Allen, two of Wichita’s Central-division opponents.

Those details, he believes, are secondary to the ideals he has established and how he could use them to make the Thunder relevant again.

“It just takes everyone working in the same direction, everyone all on the same page, everyone doing their job,” McClelland said. “When someone falls down, grab them. It’s a team sport, a team sport. You win together, you lose together. At the end you build that bond, you stick together and you find a solution.”

This story was originally published April 7, 2016 at 7:34 PM with the headline "Thunder coach Kevin McClelland facing uncertain future."