The Free Press’s Helene St. James weighs in on the Red Wings’ managerial search via an anonymous source within the Red Wings’ organization, who insists that the team will not be rushed in searching for its next hockey executive:
“From the very beginning, we were never going to let the process or the timeline dictate” the decision on whom to hire, a person with knowledge of the Detroit Red Wings‘ organizational thinking told the Detroit Free Press. “We’re always going to really be super thorough. I can tell you that when we moved on from Steve, we did it really strategically.
“People forget that right around the Olympic break, we were not only contending for a playoff berth, we were in first place. So it’s hard to say, hey, Monday morning quarterback, why didn’t you do this in April? And the real reason is because we didn’t want to make knee-jerk decisions, we want to be super thorough.”
As the Free Press was the first to report, the Red Wings have hired a search firm (TurnkeyZRG) to help narrow their search for who will replace Yzerman.
“We spent our time to really understand what’s the right thing for the Red Wings moving forward to win the Stanley Cup − that’s the only thing that matters,” the source said. “I can tell you that there is no one that cares more about that than Chris, and there’s no one that works harder in our building than Chris Illich achieving that among other goals that he has. So when we moved on from Steve, and when we made that announcement, it wasn’t just on a whim, it was because we were really thoughtful about it.”
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“Chris challenged [everyone], let’s go find the next leader that’s going to bring a Stanley Cup to Detroit, from whatever level they’re at in the organization that they’re with right now,” the source said. “Let’s go find that person. And so we started with over 100 names. And we are making our way methodically through that in a manner where we’re being strategic, trying to figure out how do we get the right person in the role?
“I’m not going to comment on specifics on where we’re at and interview process or timeline because I don’t want to paint a picture that, you know, we have a specific date. Yes, we’d like to have somebody in by training camp. But at the end of the day, what people should feel really confident in is that we’re turning over every stone and going through a very thorough strategic process.”
