00:04Good morning. Got one goal for the show today. I do not hockey town. I do
00:12not want to have a cardiac event and I know my blood pressure is going to
00:15raise when we talk about the hockey team. Good morning. I want to lead
00:19with that. Good morning. Jim Costa, John Jansen, Heather Park, Gov and
00:24Greg behind the glass. Good morning. How was your Tuesday night? I was
00:28your Tuesday day. We left here at about 10 oh five. All of a sudden we
00:33get the the notification. Hey, the Red Wings have a general manager
00:38interim sort of. Okay, we're going to have the power surge and we're
00:44actually having cookie jar on a Wednesday this week with the Lions
00:46playing on Thursday. So we'll have some other things to break up the
00:49hockey talk. But yes, yes, yes, yes. We need to talk about this hockey
00:54team. We leave. We see interim and I can already hear you giggling.
00:59Because you had thrown this out to me like what if they just go with an
01:02interim general manager. So okay, let's go back about six weeks and I
01:06actually said live on air. Is there any world where they go with an interim
01:11because then after the season or towards the end of the season, they can
01:16open it up maybe to a larger pool of individuals more maybe than the hundred
01:21that they, you know, had apparently called on because there are some that may say
01:29not that they don't want that job. They just don't want it now because of the
01:33timing. And then I as soon as I said it out loud, I was like, you know what, there
01:38are some things that I just kind of blurt out and they sound even dumber when I
01:44say them. And that's not limited to just that comment. I then said it again when
01:49Stoney was here and he was like, oh, no, there's no way they could possibly do
01:54that. And then we get it and I'm what did I text you guys instantly? I called
01:58it. I can't believe it. And it trust me when I said it, I felt dumb when I said
02:05it a second time. I was like, it still sounds stupid. And then when I saw it, I'm
02:10like it's it feels and sounds even worse. You kind of get this sickening feeling
02:15like, is this really our hockey team? True story. They tweet out the statement, put
02:22out on all their socials. Sean Horkoff, interim general manager. I click on it, right? I
02:29want to read what the quotes are and what the rationale because this is this is
02:31ridiculous. First thing I see an ad for Ticketmaster and I nearly threw my phone
02:38in. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that because where else are you going to post
02:42your tickets? Like you're already invested. I know, John, but the idea is there an
02:48incompetence clause in the in the season ticket addendum where, hey, in case we
02:55happen to, you know, be incompetent or show incompetence that you can get your money
02:59back. No chance. But if you, Heather, anybody, 10 bucks, you can take seats off my
03:04hands. I probably won't be able to get more for him than that anyway. No, that just was
03:08the insult to injury of, hey, sign up, sign up for what you guys can't run a
03:14search properly. Like that's what this says. They're admitting they will not
03:18have a real general manager in place when the season starts, which is
03:22inexcusable because Iserman had failed and they'd missed the playoffs on April
03:2815th. Season's over. Yeah, but January, they're in fourth place. I swear to you,
03:33John, I'm just going to lob these little grenades over the over the
03:37desk here. We'll get the Illich quotes in as well, but just on the news
03:41itself, you made the decision late July 15th. That made it less appealing.
03:49Even so, you claim a hundred names and you can't hire anybody. 60 days later,
03:56it's the same. You have no answers. It tells me respected hockey people looked at
04:01this job and said, it's too late in the game. Situation's not very good and you
04:08guys don't have your bleep together. The Detroit Red Wings, a marquee franchise, had
04:13become undesirable. They made it undesirable with the way they conducted
04:18themselves this offseason. Think about that. This is an original six franchise. No
04:24American team has more cups than us. This is what we've been reduced to. You got fellow
04:30general managers mocking us. I mean, what? Nope. Does anybody credible want this job?
04:37The answer is no. And that's why after 60 days of a thorough search with over a hundred
04:43names, they couldn't produce a candidate. It's why even the baseball guy who works for the
04:48owner said, you know what? I don't want any part of this. I'm removing my name from it.
04:52Think about that. He works for you. And he took his name out of it because he goes,
04:57I don't want to be a part of this. Why would a hockey person take you seriously? Someone
05:01with credibility and the ability to run a hockey team in the future, they're going to
05:05go, you know what? I'm going to scoot away from the chair. I'm going to let some other
05:08dope take this gig. And for Horkoff, it's a chance to intern, I guess, to campaign for
05:16the job. I'm not mad at him for taking the interim role, but I don't think anybody wanted
05:19this. So in regards to nobody wanting it, I don't know why it took so long. Well, first
05:28I, okay. I don't know why it took so long if they're doing this grand evaluation to come
05:34to the conclusion that Steve Iserman's no longer the guy. And then why did it take so long to
05:41find, uh, or to pull the trigger on who that next general manager is, or even why you don't
05:50have some of those names and conversations behind closed doors in place. If you are, if
05:58you're seeing that the evaluation you're doing is coming to this conclusion, then you start
06:02the process before you even move on from Steve Iserman and you have a short list of names
06:08that you're going to call that you're going to offer the job to. And within a week's time,
06:1410 days time, you're off and running. Yeah. And I also, I just, I only want to fight you
06:21on this and it, it, to me, it simply has to be about the timing, but there's only 32 of
06:29these jobs, only 32. And if I could understand of, you know, you're not going to pull one of
06:37the other 31 away at that time, but how about one of their assistants or somebody, a bright
06:44shining star in any of the organizations that would be dying for the opportunity to
06:51have one of 32 jobs in the world. Let me address that. You said bright star. So this
06:57is like, Hey, a GM in waiting, respected in the league. You don't jump into this situation
07:03and let's highlight what this situation is. It is one of 32, but they do not have some
07:09elite prospect pool despite a 10 year playoff drought. 15th is their prospect pool ranking.
07:14So after all the eyes are planning, it's not like you're well stocked. The roster is a
07:18collection of jerseys per the head coach who you are inheriting. You cannot address said
07:25roster of jerseys with trades, drafts, free agency. You will be taking over as the season
07:31begins. You don't have your own scouts in the building. You don't have your own
07:34lieutenants and assistants. You will be handed the red wing apparatus to make do of for the
07:40foreseeable stretch here. Your captain, former captain is disgruntled and wants out and has
07:45you over a barrel with a limited, no trade list. This is not one of 32. This is barely
07:50an NHL franchise, which is embarrassing for a team. That's an original six. So I would still
07:57push back on that in regards to this. Why? Because wait six months and take a better job.
08:02I can answer the question if you let me. Why take this? Because I have the confidence that I can
08:10return the Detroit Red Wings to glory. I get a mulligan. I get a free pass on year one because
08:17of
08:17the timing, because of everything that you just mentioned. I get a free pass on until we get to
08:24free agency. And I have the opportunity at the trade deadline to try and make my situation better
08:31for the future. Yes, it's going to take time, but I think you're going to, from the hockey,
08:37those that no puck, you're going to be given all the time that you think you need to eventually
08:46turn this around. No, it's not a great situation to walk into. Tom, before you jump in, there's one
08:51last detail I left out. Your boss will be Chris Illich. Tom, that's going to be your boss next
08:56year, too. Okay, so it's all the same. We talk about desirability of a job. I think you nailed it
09:00with timing, and Jim, I think you're just failing to realize that these jobs are super valuable. It's
09:05the timing. Why is the timing the way it is? I disagree with John in terms of, no, the person
09:11will
09:11be tarred and feathered for some of this. That's why nobody took it, because of the timing. Nobody wanted
09:17to be saddled with, I didn't get to have the offseason. I didn't get to make the decisions.
09:21Jim, you said, yeah, I didn't get to bring in my scouts. I didn't get to do what I want
09:25to do
09:25with the job leading up to it. So those people, I think they're all interested in the job.
09:31They just didn't want to take it now, because they would get some of the blame. People would blame.
09:36Okay, people, but I think those that are in other organizations, if this doesn't work out
09:43in three years, they're going to judge you on what you're doing basically after this year
09:49and how you get the organization back to respectability, back to a playoff team, and how
09:55you set it up for the future. I don't think you're going to be, by those that may hire you
10:00for your next job, aren't going to look at this and say, well, it's all his fault.
10:06It could be as simple as the candidates were aware of what the Red Wings wanted for Larkin
10:11or what the GM wanted to do with Larkin is different from what the franchise wanted to
10:15do with Larkin. Like, I kind of think maybe some people didn't take the job just because
10:19they want the Larkin thing to be settled. They don't want it on their hands.
10:23Maybe, but that's part of this not being desirable. The timing is part of why I say it's not desirable.
10:27Yes.
10:29So, I don't know. I mean, I guess I still look at this as a competitor.
10:36And we're talking about an environment with, correct me if I'm wrong, sports has some large
10:43egos.
10:44Yes.
10:45And somebody that would look at this and go, yeah, I can fix that. In fact, I can fix the
10:50quick.
10:51Oh, yeah. They all, but I think these people are, right now you are stepping into a complete
10:55like bleep show. Next spring, there's more of a clean slate potentially.
11:02Potentially. Potentially. Yeah. So, Harkov's the guy for now. I don't know what that means
11:06for, well, they'll get Edvinson done. He has the blessing to get that done. Dabrinkit said
11:12he wants to be here. Yeah. Does he have the blessing to make a seven-year commitment to
11:15Dabrinkit? Can he offer Dabrinkit that deal? And the broader question is the Larkin thing.
11:21Do you allow an interim general manager to make that trade? It's a franchise altering trade.
11:26The next general manager is going to go, you did what? Why did you do that? And we were kind
11:31of asking the question of when they hire their next GM, will it possibly change Dylan Larkin's
11:40mind? And I look at this and go, I think, yeah, I think it confirmed the fact that he
11:45wants out. Okay. I just want to appeal to some listeners. You can think Dylan is a POS.
11:50You can want to boo him from the heavens. I think this gives him more credibility.
11:54Don't you have to kind of see what he's saying? And you can hold both opinions that he is this
12:00and, but they are also that. You mentioned Illich. He spoke with Wojo. We have some quotes.
12:06We'll give you a few of them. It's 97.1.
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