The Detroit Red Wings are now two weeks away from “promoting” Steve Yzerman out of the General Manager position. Still, although there has been much speculation regarding potential candidates, nobody has yet been firmly linked to the vacancy.
In a recent article by Max Bultman of The Athletic, he explains that the reason for the quietness from the Red Wings organization is that they are still very early on in their process. However, since no other teams are currently searching for a General Manager, the Red Wings do not feel pressured to make quick decisions. They are willing to take their time over the next few weeks to ensure they make the right decision.
Detroit has work left to do this offseason regarding its roster. This includes finalizing a new contract for defenseman Simon Edvinsson, negotiating an extension with Alex DeBrincat, and determining whether to grant Dylan Larkin‘s trade request. Regardless, even though Yzerman will remain the day-to-day General Manager in the interim, it’s all but guaranteed that the team’s next General Manager will make the longer-term decisions.
Furthermore, Bultman explained that the Red Wings aren’t married to any specific archetypes for the team’s next General Manager, nor for a front office hierarchy. That means that Detroit won’t necessarily target a General Manager with a data and analytics background, although they are prioritizing one who can ultimately modernize the team’s front office. Additionally, the team is open to having a President of Hockey Operations lead the department, with a General Manager underneath them.
Bultman suggested a few names that we speculated could be intriguing fits for Detroit, also naming Sam Ventura, Vice President of Hockey Strategy for the Buffalo Sabres, and Tyler Dellow, Assistant General Manager of the Carolina Hurricanes, as speculative fits. It’s worth mentioning that Chris Illitch, the team’s Governor and CEO, who also owns the MLB’s Detroit Tigers, made significant investments into the Tigers’ analytical department in 2022, and hired current President of Baseball Operations Scott Harris from the San Francisco Giants, who comes from an analytical background.
Lastly, Bultman shared that it would be a relatively large committee that will ultimately choose the franchise’s next front office leader. It’s already known that Yzerman will have input on his successor, and that Illitch may ask for the input of Jeff Greenberg, the Tigers’ current General Manager. Although he is currently working in baseball, Greenberg was the former Associate General Manager of the Chicago Blackhawks.
It wouldn’t be a dissimilar approach to what the ownership group has taken in the past, as Yzerman was confirmed to have helped in the process of the Tigers hiring Harris.
Regardless, there is still a lot of work to be done until the Red Wings name a new President of Hockey Operations and/or General Manager. Still, the organization is eager to do its due diligence and make the right choice to get the team back on track.