DETROIT -- Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Paul MacLean has interviewed for the Ottawa Senators head coaching position, a league source said.

MacLean, whose contract expired at the end of the season, has been offered an extension by the Red Wings. He will first seek an NHL head coaching job.

Senators general manager Bryan Murray was the GM in Anaheim when he hired MacLean as an assistant coach in 2002 under head coach Mike Babcock.

Murray told the Ottawa Citizen that he will interview Binghamton Senators head coach Kurt Kleinendorst for the job. Kleinendorst has led the Ottawa Senators’ AHL affiliate to the Calder Cup finals, where it is tied 1-1 with the Houston Aeros.

The Citizen also listed AHL head coaches Randy Cunneyworth (Hamilton) and Mike Yeo (Houston) as candidates for the job to replace the fired Cory Clouston.

MacLean, an assistant in Detroit for six seasons, interviewed for the Columbus Blue Jackets head coaching job in 2010. He has extensive head coaching experience in the minor leagues, spending six seasons in the now-defunct IHL with the Peoria Rivermen and Kansas City Blades. He also was the head coach of the UHL’s Quad City Mallards, leading that club to the championship in 2000-01.

Four other NHL clubs are seeking head coaches: the New Jersey Devils, Florida Panthers, Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild.

The Red Wings are in the process of identifying candidates to fill the assistant coaching vacancy created by the departure of Brad McCrimmon, who this week was hired as head coach of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.

Some of the candidates they like also are pursuing NHL head coaching jobs. They have asked for permission to speak with a recently fired head coach. It’s not clear if that was Todd Richards (Minnesota), Pete DeBoer (Florida) or Clouston.