Elliotte Friedman flags long Red Wings management search

Shawn Horcoff's Detroit Red Wings sit last in their division this morning, and the management search hanging over them may not end anytime soon.

Elliotte Friedman said on the FAN Hockey Show last Friday that he "wouldn't be surprised if this one goes through the year."

That's a long runway. And it lands on a team that opened the season 1-3-1 with three points through five games.

Detroit has been outscored 15-10 so far. That's good for 28th in the overall standings.

Home ice hasn't been a refuge either. The Red Wings are 1-3-0 in their own building, starting with a 2-0 loss to the Rangers on opening night.

Then came Saturday in Montreal. A 1-0 shootout loss to the Canadiens stretched the skid to two and left the offense looking stuck in neutral.

Todd McLellan keeps coaching while Detroit's front office waits

Todd McLellan took over behind the bench on December 26, 2024. Now he's running a group whose management picture, by Friedman's read, could stay unsettled for months.

This is a bad way to run a hockey operation. Players read the room, and a front office in limbo makes for a very loud room.

Dragging a management search across a full season is like interviewing contractors while the ceiling drips. The house still needs fixing every single night.

Whatever the search eventually produces, the roster on the ice is being graded in real time. So who owns the result if this thing turns around in January?

Alex DeBrincat is doing his part. He's got five points and a +3 rating, easily the cleanest line on the scoresheet so far.

Viktor Arvidsson has three goals, and every one of them came on the power play. Five-on-five offense is a different conversation.

Lucas Raymond is still hunting his first goal and sits at minus-3. That's a tough look on an $8,075,000 cap hit.

In the crease, John Gibson owns a .862 save percentage over four appearances. Daniil Tarasov sits at .974 with a shutout, which makes the next goalie call worth watching.

The medical room isn't helping. Marco Kasper is on IR with an upper-body injury and isn't expected back before October 20.

J.T. Compher was listed out until at least today. Mason Appleton is day-to-day with an undisclosed issue through at least October 26.

The Devils come to town tonight on a back-to-back after a 4-1 home loss to Ottawa last night. New Jersey is 2-3-0 with a -7 goal differential.

A win won't settle anything upstairs. But another loss, with the Flyers and Sharks still to come on this homestand before a western road trip, makes "through the year" sound a lot longer.

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