Red Wings Take Big Step Toward Hiring a GM, Name Interim Manager with Catch

The Detroit Red Wings are hiring a search firm to help find Steve Yzerman’s successor. Chris Ilitch is hiring an outside search firm to find the next general manager, with Shawn Horcoff named the interim GM and running the day-to-day business. The one catch is that Horcoff cannot make trades. Horcoff is also the general manager of the Red Wings’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins.

As Helene St. James reports, the Red Wings are aiming to find someone heavily in analytics.

Yzerman was the club’s general manager from April of 2019 until last month, when he transitioned to a role of senior advisor. The belief is that the Red Wings wanted to keep the icon in-house, but didn’t believe he was doing a sufficient job as the GM. His plan to retool the Red Wings had flopped, with the final straw likely being a frayed relationship with Dylan Larkin, which led to Larkin requesting a trade.

This means that there will likely be no significant trades coming out of Detroit until the GM situation is sorted out. Larkin will be staying put, as will names like Alex DeBrincat. This could also mean that any big signings might have to wait until the organization goes through their process and chooses a successor.

It’s unclear if Horcoff is in the mix to take over as the full-time GM.

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