Among the uncompleted tasks on the offseason checklist of the Detroit Red Wings, it’s probably not their priority. Still without a general manager, needing to sign RFA defenseman Simon Edvinsson and resolve the trade request of captain Dylan Larkin, finding a replacement for Paul Woods in the team’s radio booth is pretty far down the team’s to-do list.
Still, as training camp nears, the reality is that this, like those other items, needs to get done ASAP.
Woods announced his retirement at the end of last season after 40 years of working alongside first Bruce Martyn and then Ken Kal in the Red Wings radio booth. The former Red Wings forward was elected to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in the summer.
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Just as there is discussion that the Wings may look to move Tigers executives Jeff Greenberg or Andrew Thomas from Comerica Park to Little Caesars Arena to fill roles on the Red Wings hockey operations staff, there’s also speculation that the Wings may look to the Tigers blueprint in replacing Woods.
Red Wings May Go With Committee Approach
A source familiar with the situation told Detroit Hockey Now that the plan the Wings will likely follow in the radio booth is to take a committee approach to fill the seat next to Kal in the radio broadcast booth.
That’s how the Tigers do it. On television, former Tigers players Andy Dirks and Dany Petry share the analyst’s seat.
Over in the radio booth, Dirks and Petry also work, along with Bobby Scales.
Evidently, that’s how the Wings may do it to replace Woods.
The word is that the Wings want to go with well-known names as Kal’s radio sidekick. Speculation is that Chris Osgood and Danny DeKeyser are frontrunners to fill the role.
Hall of Fame defenseman Larry Murphy could be another possibility.
