Patrick Kane responds to fiery challenge from his new coach.

Patrick Kane responds to new Red Wings coach Todd McLellan telling him to “Just f***ing play hockey.”

The Detroit Red Wings made a major change last week when they announced that head coach Derek Lalonde has been relieved of his duties and would subsequently be replaced by newly appointed head coach Todd McLellan.

The move was clearly designed to give a jolt to the Red Wings locker room with the team once again trending in the wrong direction this season, and it sounds like that is exactly what Todd McLellan is attempting to do when it comes to the message he is attempting to impart to the Red Wings players.

Recently McLellan was overheard delivering a fiery message to his players, one in which he implored the team to simply “just f***ing play hockey” and as you might expect with reporters in earshot the questions regarding that message quickly followed. One of the players that was asked about how the message went over was longtime National Hockey League star Patrick Kane, who seemed to take it relatively well.

“I think he’s trying to make the game simple for us,” admitted Kane. “Where you’re just going out there and playing. I think most of the time if you’re playing hard and skating hard and maybe if you make a mistake or two, if you’re still working then sometimes that covers that up a little bit.”

Kane even seemed to endorse the message when he suggested that focusing on the game itself and playing off of instinct honed over many years of playing hockey is a good way to play as far as he is concerned.

“I think that’s a good way to play too,” said Kane. “Not thinking to much and you’re just playing off of instinct… overall just make the game a little simpler for us.”

Only time will tell if the Red Wings deliver different results under the leadership of a new head coach.

You can hear Kane’s response in the short clip below: