The Detroit Red Wings are in the midst of a search to replace GM Steve Yzerman after he transitioned to be a senior advisor to governor and CEO Chris Ilitch. One candidate who stands out throughout the process is Yzerman’s former teammate, Brendan Shanahan.
The Red Wings desperately need to make the Stanley Cup playoffs, and Yzerman ultimately lost his job because he couldn’t produce post-season appearances.
But what are the cases for and against Shanahan taking over as Detroit's hockey operations leader? There are compelling arguments to be made for both sides. So let’s take a look at why Shanahan would be the right choice for the Red Wings, and why he might not be the right fit for Detroit.
THE CASE FOR SHANAHAN
Shanahan knows the Detroit market as well as anybody. He’s also keenly familiar with the Ilitch family’s ownership of the franchise. Yzerman and Shanahan were teammates for a long time and are very familiar with each other, so with Yzerman still with the Wings in an advisory role, the transfer of power from Yzerman to Shanahan would be smooth.
Yzerman has acquired some key puzzle pieces, but if Shanahan is hired as president of hockey operations and/or GM, he can work with Yzerman to pivot in the direction Shanahan sees fit. And there’d be a comfort level for Shanahan that could lead to the Red Wings quickly climbing higher in the Atlantic Division standings as well as making a playoff appearance.
Shanahan has a proven record of turning around a franchise and making it a perennial playoff team. In his time as president of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Shanahan bit the bullet, supervised a full rebuild, and turned the Leafs into a consistent playoff team for nine straight seasons. If any team needs an executive who can deliver playoff appearances, it’s the Red Wings.
So Shanahan can get Detroit what it wants.
The Wings have built slowly on the foundation Yzerman has laid, but Shanahan needs to come in, make tough decisions like dealing with the trade request of captain Dylan Larkin, and turn the page with eyes on the future.
Winning a championship takes time, and with Shanahan on board to supervise major changes, the Red Wings could take that much-needed next step into becoming a consistent playoff team.
Shanahan succeeded in many ways in his time with the Leafs. The rebuilding of trust with Maple Leafs alumni was an important and necessary move made by Shanahan. The financial bottom line of the Leafs was never better than it was when Shanahan was running the show.
Don’t kid yourself into thinking that those aspects of running an organization aren’t important – especially for an Original Six franchise. So, on and off the ice, Shanahan delivered many great changes.
THE CASE AGAINST SHANAHAN
If we’re talking about the Wings needing a culture change, will it really be a culture change if Shanahan steps in and Yzerman still has a say in roster matters? And do the Ilitches have the stomach for what looks to be necessary with this Red Wings team – which is a rebuild to some degree?
There isn’t enough fully developed talent on this Detroit team, and the only way you get those types of players is to push the growth of youngsters such as Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Nate Danielson, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, Trey Augustine, Max Plante, and others.
At the same time, Yzerman failed to pull the trigger when it came to giving up those future assets for pieces to help his team win in the present. This past season would've been a great time to do so, considering they were top of the Atlantic Division on Jan. 2.
Shanahan was known for being similar in that sense, never moving off of the"Core Four" in Toronto, or making a big change.
In the NHL, Detroit has been unable to meet expectations over the past few seasons, and there’s some deep-seated rot in the organization that should be addressed with a firehose, not a pair of tweezers.
So someone unfamiliar with the current state of the organization might be a better choice than Shanahan. Starting over, more or less from scratch, could be easier with someone unfamiliar with the Wings, as they’d have no favorites to protect. That would rule out Shanahan.
Yes, Shanahan led the Maple Leafs to nine straight playoff appearances. But in that same stretch, Toronto generated only two playoff series wins. If Shanahan deserves credit for implementing a plan that turned the Leafs from a laughingstock to a legitimate Cup threat, he also deserves criticism for being unable to get Toronto past the second round.
Shanahan would come in with considerable pressure to turn things around right away, and that may not be the best course of action. So maybe the Red Wings do need someone completely unfamiliar with the organization.
Image