- Red Wings are two weeks into their GM search with nobody firmly linked to the job
- Detroit sees no reason to rush because no other team is hiring a GM right now
- Read below for the names in play and the front office structure Chris Ilitch is weighing
Detroit is in no hurry.
Two weeks after Steve Yzerman was moved out of the general manager’s chair, the Red Wings still haven’t been tied to a single candidate. Max Bultman of The Athletic reported Thursday that the silence is just where the process is. Detroit is early, and nobody in the building feels pushed.
No other NHL team is searching for a general manager right now, so the Red Wings aren’t bidding against anyone. They plan to spend the next few weeks getting it right.
Yzerman is still running the job day to day in the interim. The longer-term calls belong to whoever comes next, and there are a few sitting on the desk: a new contract for Simon Edvinsson, extension talks with Alex DeBrincat, and a decision on Dylan Larkin’s trade request.
What Detroit wants in the chair is looser than you might expect. Bultman wrote that the Red Wings aren’t married to one archetype or one front office hierarchy. An analytics background isn’t a requirement, though modernizing hockey operations is a priority. Ownership is also open to hiring a president of hockey operations with a general manager underneath.
That setup already exists across the parking lot. Chris Ilitch invested heavily in the Tigers’ analytics department in 2022 and brought in Scott Harris from the Giants to run baseball operations. Tigers general manager Jeff Greenberg, a former Blackhawks associate GM, could be asked for input on the hockey hire.
Bultman floated two speculative fits, both out of analytics-heavy shops: Sabres vice president of hockey strategy Sam Ventura and Hurricanes assistant general manager Tyler Dellow.
Jeff Marek was asked about the search on Sekeres & Price and said Detroit has kept everything sealed off:
“One of the interesting things here right now is just how quiet it is around the Detroit [management] search. You’re thinking Kris Draper’s gonna get some consideration and Shawn Horcoff, but it’s been really, really sealed up.”
A large committee is expected to make the final call, and Yzerman gets a say in picking his successor. Detroit has missed the playoffs 10 straight years, so that group has no shortage of evidence about what hasn’t worked.
