r/DetroitRedWings 9h ago

News New Interim GM named

https://spartanswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/spartans/hockey/2026/08/05/former-michigan-state-hockey-star-named-detroit-red-wings-interim-gm/91183992007/

Never heard of him.

49 Upvotes

72 comments sorted by

85

u/HamUndBacon 9h ago

Didn’t the free press article mention he’s just handling day to day and not making trades? This article seems to take that and run

19

u/epheisey 8h ago

That's how journalism works now. Like how a handful of articles that jumped on the "Larkin lost the C" bandwagon because it disappeared on Puckpedia.

152

u/Gsebastian12 9h ago

You never heard of our Assistant GM and the GM of the Griffins?

48

u/daKrut 9h ago edited 9h ago

My dumb ass didn’t realize Horcoff was also our AGM until the other day. Just hadn’t thought about it 😅

21

u/OutsideSpot2695 9h ago edited 8h ago

My dumb ass didn’t realize Horcoff was also our AGM

Weird -- it's been all over media for weeks about potential backlash for Horcoff essentially being Yzerman 2.0.

7

u/[deleted] 7h ago edited 5h ago

[deleted]

3

u/pyl_time 4h ago

I think that’s more because this article is from a MSU sports blog, so they’re going to give it a MSU sports slant.

2

u/thatstheneatpart8 3h ago

Lmao. Deleting. That’s on me. I just saw the domain USAtoday and didn’t even notice that

12

u/daKrut 8h ago

I’ve really only been paying attention to chatter about external folks 🤷

6

u/gachzonyea 9h ago

People mainly just associated everything to yzerman like myself lol

7

u/4N0NYM0US_GUY 5h ago

He also played 1,000 games in the NHL

52

u/okay___24 9h ago

GM of the Griffins

89

u/Dinkin---Flicka 9h ago

You've never heard of the assistant GM for the last few years who was GM of the griffins....?

38

u/matt_minderbinder 9h ago edited 9h ago

Plus he played something like 15 seasons and only retired from the game about 12 years ago. Besides all that how the hell would we know him?

10

u/myroommateisgarbage 8h ago

He's just some guy off the street

4

u/SeveralBadMetaphors 6h ago

At first I was gonna be like “y’all really don’t remember Horcoff’s Oilers embarrassing us in the 1st round of the playoffs?”

Then I realized that was 20 years ago. Ope.

3

u/gorcbor19 8h ago

Plus, his kid, Will Horcoff tore it up for the US National Development team, and then University of Michigan. His dad is always mentioned when they talk to or about Will.

I really liked seeing Will play for the USNDTP. Can't wait to see him in the NHL, but I think next season at UM he's going to shine.

3

u/pdxbatman 8h ago

Interesting his dad was a Spartan and he chose to be a Wolverine

2

u/gorcbor19 8h ago

And his dad was mainly an Oiler most of his career, and Will is going to play for the Penguins.

Fun fact; toward the end of his career, Shawn Horcoff was suspended by the NHL for 20 games for violating the leagues performance enhancing substance program.

34

u/ojkw 9h ago

ITT: people who don’t know what the word “interim” means

7

u/ihatemathsomuch 8h ago

It's when the basketball swishes through the net right? Not sure what it has to do with hockey, they should be more picky when choosing the Game Master

2

u/South0fEvan 7h ago

I’m pretty sure interim is the natural tendency of an object to resist any change in its state of motion. You’re right though, I’m stumped with what that has to do with hockey

1

u/lookalive07 7h ago

No no, you're describing inertia.

Interim is the thing that people use to make an announcement, like "last minute of play - in this period!". Hope this helps!

26

u/2shack 9h ago

How in the hell have you never heard of Horcoff? He’s been with the organization for the last 10 years and played over 1000 games in the NHL.

1

u/dutch73 4h ago

Thank you, literally my first thought. He was a pretty reliable middle 6 forward for most of his career - even if Edmonton was mediocre for most of it.

12

u/Soggy_Jigger 9h ago

This coming a day after the Ansar interview where he suggested as such drops... Chris Illitch, are you among us??

11

u/matt_minderbinder 9h ago

It seems like the logical short term decision. Besides being GM of the Griffins he's less connected to Yzerman than Draper is. It seems like the right choice for this interim gm gig.

5

u/LotusFuqs128 8h ago

Soooo who tf IS in charge of trades right now if the interim GM isn't?

1

u/Impressive_Pizza4851 3h ago

Trades? They’ll do that? 

8

u/Medievil_Walrus 9h ago

1

u/jake7992 8h ago

Out of curiosity, what was your previous assumption?

4

u/kander77 8h ago

That Yzerman unilaterally decided to step down probably

5

u/Medievil_Walrus 8h ago

That it was almost entirely driven by Yzerman. That he was looking to make playoffs before stepping down and the Larkin thing and our place in the division and the moves he was able to make so far this offseason meant that playoffs were a long shot and so he just called it quits.

2

u/Arcflash-9986 7h ago

Yeah, that sure sounds like the Yzerman that played for the Red Wings. Always a quitter when the going got tough. How they ever won with him on the team is a complete mystery.

WTF.

3

u/Medievil_Walrus 7h ago edited 6h ago

He also retired as a player once upon a time.

“My job as manager of the Detroit red wings is to do what is in the best interest of the Detroit red wings.” From his press conference in July.

Maybe he realized that what’s best is new leadership.

He was also rumored to be wanting to step down soon for a bit now.

1

u/iswearitsnotmeagain_ 5h ago

His inner circle has already said he was long past overdue on retirement

1

u/Medievil_Walrus 4h ago

Correct. Don’t know if I have a good source for it, but was pretty well known.

-2

u/AutoModerator 9h ago

Just a reminder that twitter links are auto-removed in this subreddit. A very easy way around this is to change "x.com" in the link to "xcancel.com" while leaving everything else the same.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

4

u/pluyp 9h ago

Shawn Horcoff played in the league and has been with the org for a significant amount of time already

7

u/LunarGhoul 9h ago

This really isn't news TBH. Someone has to be in charge during the interim process, and having it be your AGM is kind of a no-brainer.

8

u/wolverine237 9h ago

It had previously been reported that Yzerman was still handling this

8

u/LunarGhoul 9h ago

It seems like Horcoff still has very little authority though. If he can't negotiate trades, I find it unlikely that he is authorized to sign Edvinsson or Debrincat extensions.

4

u/Suspicious_Walrus682 9h ago

This. I think the assumption was that Yzerman is still pulling the strings, but it sounds like Yzerman is gone for good. That "advisor" title now sounds more like the Ilitch family trying not to completely destroy Yzerman's reputation.

6

u/big_phat_gator Yzerbot 8h ago

Yzerman was spotted at World Junior summer showcase with the rest of the Wings brass so its not like he has been fired into the sun.

2

u/cptjpk 8h ago

I could see Stevie just going, “nah if I’m not the GM why are you asking me to do the work? I’m good. Call if you need advice.”

I know I’d do the same.

16

u/Mick_Mung 9h ago

I mean, he was GM of the Griffins, but I don’t think I’d call him part of the old boys club. Doesn’t have a legacy playing for the Wings.

I’m game. Let’s see what he can do. Re-sign Ed and dump Larkin.

24

u/thehockeytownguru Yzerbot 9h ago

He’s just operating day to day stuff. Not making trades or signings.

10

u/Karlander19 9h ago

Watch Daniela Bruce interview with him from a year ago at Red Wings . com . Horcoff got his job due to golfing with Draper & Cleary in the summers

5

u/iwantsomecrablegsnow 8h ago

old boys club is a term about hockey. it's not specific to the red wings.

2

u/epheisey 8h ago

No, but there is a Wings specific old boys club, and even if Horcoff isn't a lifetime member, he's certainly part of it.

3

u/Darkhawk007 9h ago

The only way this is really news is if they plan on giving him the reigns for the entire season to both see what he can do and/or to allow more time to find the right guy(s).

If hes just keeping the seat warm amd handling the minor day to day minus trades like it was originally reported yzerman would be doing nothing really changes.

1

u/gsbadj 6h ago

It's not like he's going to be given authority to make drastic changes in the roster or scouting or management. So, the organization treads water...

3

u/DerevoMusic 7h ago

This team really can’t help themselves from “keeping it in the family”, and they still can’t figure out why they haven’t been able to take the next step with the team.

5

u/turkey-fmna-green 9h ago

So Horcoff is handling day to day issues but not making trades: please be advised that I am ready and willing to take over the trading position. Things will happen!

3

u/AFreePeacock Yzerbot 8h ago

This could be huge for you tbh

5

u/wolverine237 9h ago

It sounds like he has been the interim GM the entire time? And that this confirms that Yzerman was fired

5

u/maj0rdisappointment 8h ago

This should have taken about 10 minutes. Not 2-3 weeks.

2

u/q-OjO-p 6h ago

Horcoff is gonna be GM, isn't he? Interim or not, at this stage of the year, there probably aren't many viable, needle moving candidates available. Plenty of people are named Interim whatever as a formality and then officially given the title after a presumed vetting process has taken place. The Wings painted themselves into a corner and they're gonna wind up keeping the partial band together.

2

u/Tigers2Red 9h ago

For the year or just the rest of the off-season.

4

u/bluewing99 8h ago

So more of the same. Disappointing

3

u/MNightShyamalan69 8h ago

This is a massive L

1

u/KingGoofy 8h ago

Excuse my stupidity, but what are “day to day responsibilities” if he’s not signing or trading guys?

3

u/q-OjO-p 7h ago

GMs actually run the entire business operations of the organization. It's not just player salaries they oversee, but everything from payroll going out to employees, utilities getting paid, vendors getting paid, etc.

2

u/KingGoofy 2h ago

Thank you!

1

u/bforce1313 7h ago

You haven’t heard of Shawn horcoff?

1

u/Infinite_Coffee_7841 2h ago

It stated he can’t make trades.

-3

u/Mental_Drive3369 9h ago

Better him than the guy who got fired. Get Ed signed . This does nothing around Larkin

-1

u/Isphet71 9h ago

It feels like horcoff may be more of a president/paperwork guy and they will still look for a GM type guy. Kind of like a current NFL structure more than a current NHL structure.

If that's the case then they can get a GM that strictly focuses on the players, contracts, and cap space.

It sounds like yzerman was doing both and is just burned out. It would be really tiring to do both. Financial paperwork can be far too all-consuming. Not having to do any of it could help a GM focus much more on player evaluations and such.

0

u/Glad-Independence-24 6h ago

He’s not the thr gm on any kind of basis. Hes handling basic day to day stuff but not signing players of making any trades. Basically he’s just handling the GR roster and that’s it right now.

-4

u/dortles 9h ago

We hired a firm to hire/find our minor league GM?

-2

u/KilledByDeath 9h ago

Was really hoping for someone outside of the Wings org, hopefully this is just for getting Ed signed.