When Detroit Red Wings CEO and owner Chris Ilitch did an interview with Bob Wojonowski of The Detroit News, most people took a "wait and see" approach to see if his words rang true. After all, he promised extensions to Simon Edvinsson and Alex DeBrincat soon and a clear vision for the future.
It's been over two weeks since Ilitch's interview was published. In that time, the Red Wings have failed to sign Simon Edvinsson, failed to extend Alex DeBrincat and failed tos how any sort of indication on the franchise's direction.
The longer this drags out, the more hollow Ilitch's words ring.
Ilitch quotes that have aged poorly
The first (and most obviously) poorly aged comment has to do with signing Simon Edvinsson. When asked about the pending issues interim GM Shawn Horcoff had to face, Ilitch implied that business would be finished shortly. "I think that's a great question for Shawn, certainly on Edvinsson," Ilitch said. "I know Shawn wants to get him signed, get him on the roster to start the season."
We are now two days away from the start of the regular season. Simon Edvinsson still isn't signed. In fact, he's in Sweden, practicing with a different team.
If the Edvinsson quote wasn't bad enough, his next quote adds insult to injury. "I've been highly consistent in giving all of our sports leaders 100% autonomy and authority to make the decisions necessary as they see fit. I might have a question to contribute to their thinking, but I would say 99.9% of them go through just as they're recommending."
It's easy for Ilitch to just throw this out, but, when thought about for more than a few moments, the narrative falls apart. If what Adam Johansson of Expressen says is true, Edvinsson's asking price lands around $9-10M per season but the Red Wings are trying to squeeze him under Moritz Seider's $8.55M cap hit.
Signing Edvinsson to this cap hit is a no brainer. There's absolutely no logic to signing Edvinsson to a hit lower than Seider's -- especially now that the salary cap has exploded.
This suggests one of two things: either Shawn Horcoff is an incompetent general manager, or Chris Ilitch lied about the autonomy supposedly granted to his GMs. One is much easier to believe than the other.
Ilitch's most tone deaf comment
The worst, most poorly-aged part of the interview wasn't the Edvinsson quote. It wasn't even the remarks on GM autonomy. No, the worst point of the interview was the moment he brushed aside concerns of fans:
"I think a lot of it is just talking heads. To be frank, inside the organization, things are operating perfectly well. It’s a bit of amusement to hear and look at some of that stuff."
Fans are upset about the lack of communication -- and rightfully so. There's no clear vision, no direction this team is planning to take and little to no hope from the decisions the organization has made thus far. Simon Edvinsson showed up to camp without a contract. He's done everything right. In exchange, the organization has chosen to bicker with him over a few dollars.
The Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Tigers have the fourth worst record in the NHL and MLB since Ilitch took over as CEO and owner.
For the fans, this offseason has been agonizing. For Chris Ilitch, it's "a bit of amuseent".
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