Red Wings rebuild 'out of the question' for interim GM

DETROIT -- 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.”

That’s a critical piece of information as Horcoff takes over amid so much uncertainty. The Red Wings open training camp Thursday.

You could argue Detroit does need another rebuild -- or at least a retool, a step back before a step forward.

The Red Wings have faded down the stretch the past three seasons, and they have failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for 10 straight seasons. That’s the longest drought in their century of history and the longest active drought in the NHL.

They haven’t selected in the top three of the NHL Draft in that time (since taking center Keith Primeau No. 3 in 1990, actually). Although they have some good young players and more on the way, it’s fair to ask if they have enough difference-makers.

Dylan Larkin, who had been the captain and No. 1 center, requested a trade after last season. The Red Wings announced July 15 that Steve Yzerman would transition from GM to senior adviser to owner Chris Ilitch. Forward Patrick Kane, who liked Detroit, whom Yzerman said the Red Wings wanted to resign, left for the Chicago Blackhawks on July 23, signing a two-year, $16 million contract ($8 million average annual value).

The Larkin and GM situations remain unresolved.

After the Red Wings announced Horcoff as the interim GM on Tuesday, the Detroit News published an interview with Ilitch in which he was asked whether they might need another rebuild.

“I have my own thoughts on that, but more important are the thoughts of our new leader,” Ilitch said. “I’m going to hold off on sharing my thoughts out of fairness to him.”

Columnist Bob Wojnowski told Ilitch he didn’t think Red Wings fans had the patience to stomach a “re-rebuild.”

“I understand the frustration, and I share it,” Ilitch responded. “And I am committed to building a championship-level organization. I have an assessment. You probably have an assessment. Fans probably have an assessment. I’m not sure how much any of that matters. It’s really going to be the assessment of our new leader.”

So, if it’s going to be up to the new leader, whether that ends up being Horcoff or someone else, what’s Horcoff supposed to do in the interim? Stack assets, play the kids and evaluate everyone until a decision is made? Try to make the playoffs?

Well, he’s going to try to make the playoffs.

The Red Wings were tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for first in the Eastern Conference and had a 12-point playoff cushion on Jan. 24, then finished 9-15-5 and were booed off the ice in their home finale.

It might have looked like they were in limbo in the offseason. They weren’t.

Horcoff, who has been part of the Detroit front office since 2016 and was an assistant GM since February 2022, started handling the day-to-day business of hockey operations. He talked to coach Todd McLellan.

“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.”