The Hockey News’s Jake Tye reprinted an article from January’s Hockey News “People of Power and Influence” special, as written by Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff.
Duff profiles Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch, as well as CEO of Ilitch Sports + Entertainment Ryan Gustafsson, and there’s a character sketch of GM Steve Yzerman and the atmosphere of Little Caesars Arena, too.
Here’s what Duff has to say about Chris Ilitch:
Ownership – Chris Ilitch
If Chris Ilitch can replicate with the Red Wings what he just did with his Detroit Tigers and get them back to the playoffs, the fan base’s opinion of him will certainly change. Currently, Ilitch is seen as a penny pincher by the Red Wings faithful. His parents, Mike and Marian Ilitch, on the other hand, owned well-earned reputations for spending whatever it took to put the team on track for the Stanley Cup.
To be fair to the Wings’ current president and CEO, his parents’ spending wasn’t constrained by a salary cap. They could allow their GMs free rein in order to keep winning, which is part of the reason the Red Wings made 25 successive playoff appearances between 1990-91 and 2015-16.
It’s also fair to say that when Chris Ilitch ascended to the throne as the man in charge of the Red Wings, he was arriving to a cupboard bereft of prospects.
It was the younger Ilitch who brought in Red Wings icon Steve Yzerman as GM in 2019, and he’s allowed Yzerman to take a patient approach to what has proven to be a complete overhaul of the team.
It’s now been eight seasons without playoff hockey in Hockeytown. “I would say, first of all, I have a ton of confidence and a ton of respect for Steve Yzerman and his approach,” Ilitch said. “I’ve been in business just about 40 years now. I’ve been a part of a lot of senior-leadership searches. I have to say, Steve has been exceptionally thorough and very thoughtful. He knows exactly what he’s looking for, and he’s just been very methodical and very purposeful.”
Marian Ilitch has always operated in the background during the family’s ownership of the club, but make no mistake, she’s still very much involved in the day-to-day decision-making process, and the cheques that come from the team still bear her signature. She has held the dual roles of owner and treasurer since the Ilitch family bought the club in 1982.
Marian is also a leading entrepreneur in the food, sports and entertainment industries and is widely recognized as one of the most successful businesswomen in the United States. Working hand-in-hand, Marian and her husband and lifetime business partner, Mike Ilitch (1929-2017), grew a single, family-owned Little Caesars pizza store in Metro Detroit into the third-largest pizza chain in the world.
Continues; the Wings just seem to have lost their ownership’s “oomph” and focus on the Red Wings when Mr. Ilitch passed away and Ken Holland left Yzerman a team that needed to be torn down before it could be rebuilt.
We’re witnessing the slow rebuild of the Red Wings as a result, and while all of it’s not gone according to plan, we’re at least beginning to see the fruits of the team’s drafting and prospect development.
