How will the Detroit Red Wings structure their front office?
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was on NHL Tonight on NHL Network to discuss how the Detroit Red Wings will proceed after Steve Yzerman steps down as the general manager. Could they stick with a one person in charge or go to a two-tier system?
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Who Will Replace Steve Yzerman in Detroit as General Manager?
Billy Jaffe: “Now back to hockey in Detroit. So what’s next? I mean, I know it’s so early, but you know what’s next for this team? They’ve got a couple of guys in-house. There’s a few guys that are on the outside, perhaps. I know a lot of guys would be interested, but does it feel to you like they kind of stay in-house, or do they go outside the organization? It feels to me like they perhaps go outside first.”
Elliotte Friedman: “You know what, Billy? I think, first of all, we’re still, as you said, very early in this process. This just happened , and it’s taken a lot of people by surprise. But the one thing that I’ve heard is that the Red Wings are going into this with an open mind, that they will cast a wide net, and they will give their internal candidates. You’re talking about people like Kris Draper and Shawn Horcoff. They will give them the opportunities, but they are also going to go outside.
They will go into this with no preconceived notions, and they go into this with the the other thing I was wondering, and I was asking this a lot , Billy, is do they do a one-person structure like Yzerman was, where one person is the president and the general manager, or do they go to a two-person structure where there’s a president and there’s a different general manager?
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And I’ve heard the Red Wings are open to all sorts of ideas. As they will listen, they will hear what people have to say, and they will zero in ultimately, at the end of the day, on who the right person or people are, and build the structure around that. It’s kind of like what Nashville did until they found the right person.
Then they went out, and they said, “We’re going to build the structure around that. I think that’s what they’re going to do. But that is the thing I’ve been told: they have an open mind, both internally and externally, as to who they will talk to, and where I really agree with you is I think this will be a coveted job.
I know the Red Wings haven’t had a lot of success in the last few years, but these are still the Detroit Red Wings. They have one of the most beautiful arenas in the league. They have resources. I think there will be a ton of interest.
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We mentioned Horcoff and Draper on the inside. You’re going to hear a lot of names, like hey, Brendan Shanahan. That is one of the first people I thought of who left Toronto in a better place than he found it. But I think there is going to be a lot, and I think they are going to go out there, they’re going to talk to a bunch of people. They will decide who they like, and then they will figure out how the structure is going to be built around them.”
NHLRumors.com Note: As previously mentioned, the best idea for the Red Wings is to look outside the organization and find someone not tied to it. The usual suspects will be mentioned, like Shanahan, Horcoff, Ryan Martin, Marc Bergevin, and potentially a reunion with Jim Nill, but it might make sense to give someone like Evan Gold, Brett Petersen, Darren Yorke, Sam Ventura, Brandon Pridham, Josh Flynn, or Tim Barnes.
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