Detroit's GM Search Kicks Into High Gear

Interviews are set to begin next week

Credit: MLive

I got back from a camping trip with my son just in time to hear the latest on Chris Ilitch’s search to replace Steve Yzerman. Helene St James and Elliotte Friedman are reporting that the Red Wings have hired outside consultants to help them identify the next hockey operations person to lead the organization, and interviews will begin next week.

First, let’s review the key reporting from St James:

A person within the NHL with knowledge of the process told the Free Press that Ilitch hired a search firm to help determine who should replace Steve Yzerman.

Ilitch, and by extension the search firm, is believed to be looking for an analytics-driven person to take charge of the Wings, similar to how his Detroit Tigers plucked Scott Harris from the San Francisco Giants to guide the Tigers as president of baseball operations in September 2022.

When looking at the direction of the Detroit Tigers, who are in the thick of competing for their third straight playoff appearance after missing the post season for 9 straight seasons, it would make sense for Ilitch to pursue a candidate who is comfortable utilizing analytics to guide the decision-making process. Chris Ilitch hired Scott Harris to oversee the Detroit Tigers organization prior to the 2023 season and Harris in turn hired Jeff Greenberg to be his general manager in September 2023.

Over that time frame, the Tigers have averaged 83.7 wins the previous three seasons, finishing second in the division on two occasions, with their lowest finish being 3rd place. This season is the first season where their win percentage (.487) badly trails their pythW-L%, (.575) which indicates they have had plenty of bad luck. They have a +80 run differential, which is tops in the AL Central and second only to the Yankees in the American League, and that’s by one run. New York has spent nearly $100 million more than the Tigers on payroll this season.

The Tigers have rebounded after suffering through some terrible injury issues earlier this season, and have added two top prospects to the lineup in Kevin McGonigle and Max Clark. They also added the #35 overall prospect in Zyhir Hope, acquired in the Tarik Skubal trade.

Detroit’s baseball team is beginning to round into form as the post-season beckons, recently becoming only the second team in MLB history to have three straight series where they have a game where they put up double-digit runs on an opponent they have shut out, which highlights how strong they are on both sides of the plate.

So when Chris Ilitch compares the performance of the Tigers to that of the Red Wings, it’s not hard to understand why he’d want to lean on someone who has a deep understanding of how to utilize analytics to guide his hockey club. As St James has reported, the Red Wings have not embraced analytics as a core part of their decision-making process, and with a ten year streak of missing the playoffs it’s clearly time to take a new approach.

A Top Candidate Emerges?

If you are someone who understands the impact analytics can have on turning an organization around, what Elliotte Friedman is reporting is sure to sound encouraging.

Paraphrasing Friedman’s appearance on NHL Tonight, he said a name he’s not hearing mentioned but who he thinks could be a strong candidate is current Detroit Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg.

If anyone else was reporting this, I would be highly skeptical, but Friedman is the best in the business, so if he thinks there’s something to Greenberg moving from the Tigers front office to the Red Wings front office, it’s worth considering. If you don’t follow the Tigers closely, Greenberg served alongside Scott Harris in the Chicago Cubs front office, but moved to the Blackhawks organization before being hired by Harris to join the Tigers.

Interestingly, he played hockey growing up, as did Chris Ilitch. Again, with Friedman giving his insight, you start to look for clues why Greenberg would make sense. His work with the Tigers is certainly worth taking notice, and when you look at his career to date, it’s almost entirely baseball with a brief pit stop in the NHL.

He seems like a baseball guy.

However if Greenberg has ambitions to move up to a bigger role, naming him the head of hockey operations would be an obvious promotion. Friedman indicated the Ilitch family would give the new hire the keys to the organization and that the new hire would have no shortage of resources when it comes to turning things around. Friedman also indicated leadership for hockey operations could be filled by one person or two; Steve Yzerman held two roles, but Ilitch would be open to hiring one person to lead hockey ops and another to fill the GM role, as is the case with the Tigers.

This is where I think Greenberg starts to make more sense. You likely aren’t going to promote Greenberg to Scott Harris’ role with the baseball team, but you certainly could with the hockey club. From there, Greenberg could hire his own general manager.

It also may have made sense to delay the search until after the Major League Baseball trade deadline passed on August 3rd, as Greenberg was obviously very busy, with Tarik Skubal being the most attractive trade piece available on the market.

To be clear, Friedman said it would be wrong to say anyone is the leading contender at this point, which makes sense given interviews haven’t even started yet. Interviewees will be expected to come into those meetings with a plan for how to make the Red Wings and the state of Michigan a destination, the way the club was during the Hockeytown era.

Crucially, Steve Yzerman has been removed from the hockey ops part of the organization and will have no role in hockey operations going forward. Helene St James has indicated Shawn Horcoff is serving as the temporary GM but has no authority when it comes to making trades.

Regardless of what happens, there is reason to finally feel confident about the direction of the franchise going forward: all the reporting indicates Chris Ilitch is going to hire someone with a strong background in analytics-based strategy and decision making; he’s utilizing a search firm to identify the best candidates and the reporting indicates there is a lot of interest in the position; and Elliotte Friedman thinks there’s a chance one of the key executives who’s played a major role in turning the Tigers around may be someone Chris Ilitch views as the best person for the job.

This next week is going to play a massive role in determining the future of the Detroit Red Wings franchise.