Red Wings GM Hire: Ilitch Turns to Outside Search Firm

Chris Ilitch is not making this call alone.

The Detroit Red Wings owner has brought in an outside search firm to help find Steve Yzerman’s replacement as general manager, Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday. A person within the NHL with knowledge of the process confirmed the hire to the paper, three weeks after Yzerman shifted into a senior advisor role on July 15.

Her report also cleared up something the Red Wings had left vague. Yzerman is not the interim general manager.

Assistant GM Shawn Horcoff has been running day-to-day hockey operations since the announcement, and his authority stops short of completing a trade.

That detail lands hardest on Dylan Larkin. Detroit’s captain asked to be moved shortly after the season ended April 15 and has not softened the request since.

Nobody in the building is cleared to finish a deal right now, which means Larkin stays put until the next GM is hired.

Ilitch is targeting an analytics-driven executive, the same route he took with the Detroit Tigers when he pulled Scott Harris out of San Francisco in September 2022. Hockey operations already employs analytics staff, but in an advisory capacity rather than a decision-making one.

Handing the process to a third party also stretches the timeline. Max Bultman of The Athletic wrote last week that Detroit felt no pressure to move quickly because no other club is hunting for a general manager, and a firm-led search adds weeks on top of that.

Detroit’s runway is not unlimited. Training camp opens Sept. 17, the season starts Oct. 2, and Simon Edvinsson’s next contract and an Alex DeBrincat extension are both unfinished business.

Their countdown clock is already running:

Whoever takes the job inherits a captain who wants out and a franchise that has not made the playoffs since 2016.