Michelle Crechiolo of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ website posted a very lengthy article about Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Will Horcoff, who was selected 24th overall in this past June’s 2025 NHL Draft…
But the story includes a whole lot of learning about Red Wings assistant GM and Grand Rapids Griffins GM Shawn Horcoff. Shawn was a pain in the Wings’ ass with that great Edmonton Oilers team that upset the Red Wings along the way to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006, and he was always a player known for his work ethic:
Shawn himself was a fourth-round pick (99th overall) of Edmonton back in 1998. After playing four years of college hockey at Michigan State, where he met wife Cindy, Shawn made his Oilers debut in the 2000-01 season.
He ended up playing there for 13 years, with Will arriving about midway through Shawn’s tenure. He was born on Jan. 23, 2007, a couple of months after Shawn scored his first career hat trick – “my only one,” he said with a laugh – which came against the Penguins at Mellon Arena.
Other highlights included Shawn being named to the 2008 NHL All-Star Game, where he won the Fastest Skater competition, and being awarded the captaincy in Edmonton.
“When I was really young, my favorite player had to be my dad, just watching him all the time,” Will said. “I would always go to his games in Edmonton and just seeing the fans and how much each game mattered and how competitive they were, I knew I wanted to play hockey since I was very young.”
By the time Shawn got traded to Dallas in the summer of 2013, Will was a rink rat, through and through.
“I would be lying to say that didn’t fuel me towards the end of my career, trying to play later, because it was so great to be able to bring my son to the rink,” said Shawn, who was Stars teammates with Jason Spezza and Trevor Daley. “Just kind of having him around and soaking it all in, and be able to skate after practice or just kind of mess around in the locker rooms.
“The one thing is in pro hockey, there’s a lot of ups and downs, right? And when your kids are around, your family’s around, they don’t feel that, they don’t see that. There’s no bad days for them. I think there’s a time and a place, obviously… maybe you’re in a little bit of a slump, and it’s like hey, Will, we gotta stay away today [laughs]. But for the most part, it was always really welcomed.”
Continued; the read is not all Red Wings-related, but it certainly tells us about Shawn’s values and hockey philosophies. That’s very relevant to the job he does today working with Steve Yzerman at the NHL level and running the Red Wings’ top developmental affiliate in Grand Rapids.
