Shawn Horcoff Named Red Wings Interim GM

Shawn Horcoff seemed in a jovial mood Sunday night when he kibitzed briefly with the Detroit media after his team’s prospects lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins at the NHL Prospects Tournament at Little Caesars Arena.

Perhaps he knew something the rest of us did not.

The Red Wings today named Horcoff, 47, as the team’s interim general manager and he will have the ability to make personnel decisions, negotiate contracts and make day-to-day decisions regarding the club. He reports directly to team CEO Chris Ilitch.

Former NHL player Horcoff has been with the organization since 2016 and has been an assistant GM since 2022.

The Red Wings start the NHL season in 17 days. Their opener is a home game against the New York Rangers on Friday, Oct.

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Horcoff takes over a team that has a collection of pressing issues to deal with as it tries to prevent missing the NHL playoffs for an 11th consecutive season.

“As our process continues to find the best possible leader for Red Wings hockey operations, I’m appreciative of Shawn for stepping up to serve in this capacity,” Ilitch said. “His knowledge of our organization and range of experience allows us to operate with a clear decision-maker in place for the season ahead, while maintaining our commitment to carry out a thorough, methodical search process on our own timeline.

Shawn has my complete support, and the authority to make decisions in the best interests of our organization.”

The search for a permanent director of hockey operations/general manager will continue. In the press release, the Red Wings indicated Horcoff is a candidate for that permanent position.

The ability to make trades and sign players is critical because the Red Wings start training camp Thursday and they still don’t have restricted free agent defenseman Simon Edvinsson signed. Dylan Larkin is coming to training camp, but he has asked to be traded.

The Red Wings need to start negotiating with Alex DeBrincat immediately because he will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

The Larkin situation is tricky because Larkin, owning a full no-trade clause, has a three-team list of destinations he would approve. (Minnesota Wild, Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights).

The Wild are the only team of the three that aggressively wants to make a deal. But they want to primarily give up prospects and draft picks.

Larkin is Detroit’s only true scoring center. If the Red Wings don’t get back players who can help immediately, the Red Wings will have a low probability of competing for a playoff spot.

Larkin, Leon Draisaitl and Nathan MacKinnon are the only three active NHL centers who have scored 30 or more goals for the last five consecutive NHL seasons.

The best move for Detroit — at least for now — is to have Larkin honor his contract. That could change as the season wears on.

Larkin makes $8.7 million per season. It would not make financial sense for him to refuse to play for the Red Wings.

The Red Wings hired a firm TurnkeyZRG to assist with the search, but recently it has been reported that the Red Wings asked for permission to interview some candidates but did not interview them. Detroit Tigers general manager Jeff Greenberg, a former Chicago Blackhawks associate general manager, recently pulled his name from consideration.

The Red Wings also released this statement: “We’ve had substantive conversations with talented executives over the past two months, and it’s been gratifying to see such strong interest in this organization and the caliber of candidates involved. This reflects our confidence in where this organization is headed.

Our search continues, and we’re excited about the path forward. We’ll share updates when we have something meaningful to announce.”

The Red Wings said Steve Yzerman is moving to a role as advisor to Ilitch. Speculation