- Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg has withdrawn from the Red Wings GM search
- Detroit wanted its next hockey boss hired by Labor Day
- Read below for the Tigers’ statement and who is left on the board
The Detroit Red Wings wanted a general manager in place by Labor Day. Labor Day showed up and took a candidate off the board instead.
Elliotte Friedman reported Monday that Detroit Tigers general manager Jeff Greenberg has pulled his name from consideration for the vacant Red Wings job.
Greenberg let the baseball club explain it for him. A Tigers spokesperson gave reporters his reasoning Monday afternoon, per the Detroit Free Press, and the wording was warm toward the hockey side.
“This was his decision. He has communicated it to them directly. He has tremendous respect and admiration for the organization and was honored to be considered for the opportunity, but he is committed to the Tigers and what this group is building.”
Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now reported that Greenberg broke the news to Tigers beat writers through a group text.
Ownership made this one unusual. The Ilitch family owns both the Red Wings and the Tigers, so Greenberg could have swapped buildings without changing bosses.
He also knows the sport. The 40-year-old spent roughly 18 months as an associate general manager with the Blackhawks, following a decade with the Cubs that ended with him as an assistant GM, before Detroit handed him the baseball job in September 2023.
Chris Ilitch has been running this search since July 15, the day Steve Yzerman moved out of the general manager chair and into a senior adviser role. Detroit brought in an outside search firm and has been hunting for an analytics-driven executive.
As for who is left, Max Bultman of The Athletic laid out the external names on his radar last month:
Panthers assistant GM Brett Peterson, Sharks assistant GM Jeff Kealty, and Carolina’s Darren Yorke and Tyler Dellow are the names that keep coming up. Some other candidates have already been told they are out.
His name entered the mix back in early August, which makes Monday the loudest development in a search that has crawled for almost two months.
Training camp opens September 17. Whoever takes the job walks straight into Dylan Larkin’s trade request and a roster that has not made the playoffs in a decade.
