Shawn Horcoff in unenviable position for first GM job
It’s been a difficult first month and change for Detroit Red Wings’ interim general manager Shawn Horcoff.
Since he took over for Steve Yzerman in September, Horcoff has had to navigate the ongoing drama with former captain Dylan Larkin, who requested a trade from the Red Wings in June and was suspended without pay by the team Thursday after he announced he would sit out until he was traded.
Horcoff told reporters Thursday the Red Wings continue to negotiate with the list of teams Larkin approved for a trade and that Detroit will “continue to try to find a solution that fits for both sides.”
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton are joined by The Sheet host Jeff Marek to discuss the situation in Detroit and if they feel bad for the interim GM
Carter Hutton: Do you feel for Horcoff in this position as general manager or is this just a cross you bear? You wanted to be in this situation, and it’s all snowballing on him right now.
Jeff Marek: No one is going to say no to this position, even with an interim tag, there’s no chance you’re going to say no. I wonder if there’s other people in that front office that are miffed that it went to Horcoff and not them, even though it’s just an interim tag.
I don’t know … I would feel bad for Shawn Horcoff if he wasn’t able to act with full autonomy here, and make his own decisions, because he’s the one that’s going to take the bullets for it. Think about this: this is Shawn Horcoff’s first trade, unless he does something else in between. But this is going to be his first trade.
One of the things Brian Burke talks about is when he made his first trade, it was the Bobby Holik deal between the Hartford Whalers and New Jersey Devils. Sean Burke and Eric Weinrich went the other way. Burke always talked about how there is no assistant general manager, there’s no front office staff: there’s me. I got to pick up the phone and call Lou Lamoriello.
He said, “I picked up the phone, I started dialing, I got scared, I put the phone down, then I walked around the rink. Then I came back into my office, I picked up the phone, I started dialling to call Lou, then I got scared again, and this went on for a couple of hours, because I had no one to lean on. This was just me, and I’m about to make my first trade in the NHL. The stress that comes along with that is incredible.”
Well for that, if Horcoff isn’t able to make a deal that he wants to make, i.e. if (Red Wings owner) Chris Ilitch has final decision on any deal here — and I know you always run big decisions past ownership, and I get that — then I do feel bad for Shawn Horcoff.
But then again — this is the gig, and no one forced him to take it.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…