Corey Neilson is done as the Glasgow Clan’s head coach.
On Tuesday [27 January], the Elite League side announced that it had “mutually parted ways” with the 49-year-old, ending his 18-month stint behind the bench at the Braehead Arena.
Neilson joined the Clan in April 2024 and inherited a squad that finished last in the regular-season standings, with a 19-24-11 record.
In his first, and only full, season in Glasgow, the former Team Great Britain led the Clan back into the playoffs, finishing seventh with 26 wins, 25 regulation-time defeats, and three overtime losses to their name.
Neilson’s squad came agonisingly close to reaching Playoff Finals Weekend, winning the first leg of their postseason quarter final against the Sheffield Steelers 3-1, before suffering a 4-1 reverse in the return tie.
The Clan also advanced to the Challenge Cup elimination game, but were defeated by the Nottingham Panthers.
This term, the Clan started on the front foot and opened their campaign with an 8-4-0 run in the Challenge Cup.
However, Glasgow’s regular-season play has dived since.
With just one win in their last five games and 13-14-5 on the season, Neilson departs with the Clan eighth in the standings, owning a goal difference of minus-22.
While the Clan “explore options for a replacement,” assistant coach Mike Sirant will take interim charge.
Analysis: Why did Corey Neilson’s Glasgow Clan tenure end in failure?
The Clan’s season was drifting under Neilson.
Sami Aittokallio, Glasgow Clan (Image: Al Goold)
With the Fife Flyers and Dundee Stars more than a dozen points behind in the standings, Glasgow can safely assume that they will make the playoffs.
And it’s been that way for a while.
The Elite League’s eight-team playoff system provides little jeopardy, or incentive to push for every point, when the bottom two are so far off the pace.
Glasgow’s last ten results under Neilson tell the story: two wins and eight defeats, the worst run of any team in the league.
Dig into the numbers and the picture is even worse.
The Clan are working at a league-worst 14 percent clip on the powerplay despite averaging a league-best 5 penalty minutes per game.
Pair the Clan’s poor record and underlying numbers with Neilson’s failure to keep leading scorer Mitchell Heard on-side and you have all the ingredients for a coach losing his locker room and his team wasting their season.
And Glasgow’s performance on Wednesday [28 January] dashed any concerns that moving on from Neilson was the wrong call.
The Clan thumped the Nottingham Panthers 4-1 on home ice, producing their best performance in months.
Just seven points behind the fifth-placed Manchester Storm, it might be time for Glasgow to start looking back up the table. Time will tell.
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