Updated at 9:26 PM: Of further, late-evening note regarding Red Wings interim GM Shawn Horcoff’s introductory press conference and Horcoff’s vision for the Red Wings going forward:
- NHL.com’s Nicholas J. Cotsonika took note of Horcoff’s belief that the Detroit Red Wings do not merit a full rebuild…
The Detroit Red Wings have a direction. Shawn Horcoff made that clear Wednesday in his first public comments as interim general manager.
“A rebuild, to me, is out of the question,” Horcoff said. “We have too many good players in that lineup. Listen, we’ve been close. The last three years in a row, we’ve been really close. …
“We want to focus on what it’s going to take for us to get over that hump. We have lots of ideas on what it’s going to take and some of the things we can implement to help the players to do that. But we’re not looking backwards. We’re certainly looking forward up here.”
Horcoff insisted that he’s been working to build the Red Wings into a playoff-worthy team since he took over for Steve Yzerman in mid-July…
“Midsummer, we really started to talk about what we were going to accomplish this summer, not just sit here and wait for an announcement to be made,” Horcoff said. “We made a strong decision internally to not do that, to get to work right away. We were excited about the team we had. We knew we were in first place at the end of January, and we know we’re close, and so we got to work on, ‘What can we do?’ Dove into every department. ‘How can we get better in every aspect, in every area? Where do we need to make changes in order for us to help these players and put them into the best possible position to get over the hump?’”
Horcoff added: “We weren’t waiting for direction. We were moving forward here and making the necessary decisions to improve our hockey club.”
This is a job interview for Horcoff. It’s a massive, messy challenge. It’s a massive opportunity too.
“I’m ecstatic to have this opportunity,” Horcoff said. “What my job is to make sure that … First off, it’s two things: It’s to listen, and it’s to support, and that’s what I’m going to do early, is listen to the people in this organization. We have some fantastic people here, from players to staff, very capable staff, management, coaches. I want to listen to them all and hear their ideas on how we can make improvements. My philosophy is, focus on the day to day and hopefully we get some results.”
2. And The Athletic’s Max Bultman took note of Horcoff’s remarks regarding the lack of a full rebuild as well, suggesting the following:
Horcoff was asked, given his interim status, how he approaches the job: Will he be stockpiling assets? Playing young players to evaluate them? Be aggressive to make the playoffs?
“To be clear, my approach is: I’m here, it’s my responsibility now to do everything that I can to make the best possible decisions for the Detroit Red Wings,” Horcoff said. “My goal is obviously to, hopefully in the long-term, prove that I can do a good job and remove this interim tag. But our goal is no different going into this season. I think we’re going to take it week-by-week here. It’s going to start with camp; we’re going to evaluate who we have and players that are in the lineup.
“A rebuild, to me, is out of the question. We have too many good players in that lineup.”
Horcoff emphasized that the Red Wings have been “really close” to making the playoffs the last three years, and said he’s focused on looking forward, not backward.
Of course, there is a difference between a full-on rebuild, which often involves trading away players, and the reality of the Red Wings’ current situation in the stacked Atlantic Division. Detroit does have some strong players atop its lineup, and there have been times in the last few seasons where the Red Wings have been in playoff position late in seasons, but the fact they’ve come up short each time is evidence of something (or multiple things) not working.
“We want to focus on what it’s going to take for us to get over that hump,” he said. “We have lots of ideas on what it’s going to take, and some of the things that we can implement to help the players do that.”
Whether it’s realistic to think this group can ultimately make the playoffs — especially with Larkin’s status somehow even less certain than it was Tuesday — is a fair question. But certainly the players will want to begin the season pushing for that.
The bigger test will be how Horcoff’s approach (and message) shift if things don’t go according to plan.
Bultman continues (paywall) at length, cross-referencing the Detroit News’s Bob Wojnowski’s must-read interview with Chris Ilitch, and I cannot emphasize enough that every team that has a remote chance of making the playoffs begins their respective training camps with the belief that they can and will make the playoff cut. There is no such thing as a professional hockey team that lacks competitive fire in September because they don’t believe they could possibly be playing hockey in mid-to-late April, if not June.
It’s not necessarily a realistic aspiration for every team, but if you think that professional athletes aren’t that competitive, that driven, and, sometimes, that foolhardy, you haven’t been following pro sports that long.
Update: Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff also added his two cents to the situation:
As long as he wears the interim tag, Horcoff also recognizes that he lives in uncertainty. When will he be replaced? Two weeks? Three months? Next summer?
No one knows, including him. It is worth noting, though, that you generally don’t hold media availabilities with short-term solutions.
In the meantime, as long as he’s at the helm, he’ll emphasize the task at hand – righting the ship, setting sail in a better direction.
“We have some fantastic people here, from players to staff, very capable staff, management, coaches,” Horcoff said. “I want to listen to them all and come in and hear their ideas on how we can make improvements. But my philosophy is to focus on the day-to-day, and hopefully we can get some results.”
