EliteProspects/DLLS Stars/Shap Shots’ multi-talented Sean Shapiro weighs in on Shawn Horcoff’s naming as the Detroit Red Wings’ interim GM by examining Horcoff’s “old job” as one of the players who counseled Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn toward the end of Horcoff’s NHL career:
The Stars viewed Horcoff, the former Edmonton Oilers captain, as one of the new sounding boards for Benn, someone that would immediately step into that room as a louder, bolder lieutenant to Benn.
It worked to an extent, and while Horcoff’s on-ice play had diminished, there are people in the Stars organization, including Nill who have told me he left a positive lasting impact on Benn and the team in general.
Benn, rather famously, doesn’t open up about much, but I can tell you a few seasons back, the Stars captain told me that Horcoff, Rich Peverley, and Vernon Fiddler were amongst some of his better influences on him as a captain.
In many ways, that’s the situation Horcoff is now stepping into in his management career. He’s a guiding light of sorts, maybe not the final light, but perhaps the one that’s needed right now for an organization that is basically rolling back the same staff and plan from the past decade outside of Steve Yzerman.
There are parts of the new era already in place, Dylan Larkin may still be here, but his leadership authority, especially publicly, has been torched and it feels like a foregone conclusion that Moritz Seider will eventually be named captain. But outside of that, Horcoff is tasked with polishing things as best he can, trying to figure out a deal with Simon Edvinsson and Alex DeBrincat, while also balancing trying to compete, somehow, in a loaded Eastern Conference.
Continued at some length (paywall)
