It’s no secret that hockey is a close-knit community and you see the same names move around the league over and over again. Since Ken Holland stepped down from his post leading the Detroit Red Wings in 2019, he has been an NHL general manager for two other teams. Lou Lamoriello served the New Jersey Devils for nearly 30 years, then picked up GM roles with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Islanders.
While institutional knowledge and deep ties within the game are useful to an extent, struggling teams like the Red Wings find themselves looking for answers from the same Old Boys’ Club that got them into the mess they are in. It’s time for that to change.
With very little news about Detroit’s general manager search since Steve Yzerman announced he would step down from his post, the Red Wings are inching closer to training camp with the following dilemmas:
- No permanent general manager
- Captain Dylan Larkin wants to be traded (but only to these 3-4 teams)
- Restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson remains unsigned
That’s not a great spot to be in for a franchise still looking to shake its 10-year playoff drought. The timing of Yzerman’s announcement also couldn’t have been worse as any incoming GM will enter the front office with the draft and most of free agency handled by its predecessor.
The worst part of the timing of the vacant (ish) GM role is that it will be difficult to convince a sitting general manager (or top assistant GM looking for their first shot) to leave their relatively stable position. That said, sticking with the same Good Old Boys’ Club by promoting assistant GMs Kris Draper or Shawn Horcoff should be viewed as unacceptable.
With that in mind, Chris Ilitch should strongly consider going outside the box for his next GM hire by making Meghan Chayka the NHL’s first female general manager.
Chayka’s analytics background is now commonplace in the NHL
Chayka is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Stathletes, a data analytics company whose software is utilized throughout the NHL to capture every detail of the game and aid team and league-wide decision making. Her detailed knowledge of what aspects of the game are valuable and worth tracking. Her brother, John, is currently the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and was previously in that role with the Arizona Coyotes (now Utah Mammoth) due in no small part to his work with the analytics Stathletes produced.
Getting back to Meghan, her work within the field has led to her being in demand to explain the inner workings of the sport in the broadcast studio, where she has worked with the Buffalo Sabres and on ESPN as an expert for the NHL Draft. Everything that drew NHL teams to hire John to run two separate franchises applies equally, if not more, to Meghan. If there is someone primed to break the glass ceiling to become the NHL’s first female GM, it’s her.
Yzerman’s presence can be an asset as Chayka acclimates to NHL front office
Beyond a sibling rivalry she could tap into with John, the fact that Yzerman is still going to be involved (though mostly as a figurehead) in the front office could prove a boon if Ilitch hires Chayka. Yzerman running a front office for two franchises, including this one, could help the transition to an NHL team management role, given that Meghan does not possess direct front office experience.
There is definitely a chance for this dynamic to backfire given the current tensions within the captain and front office. Tabbing Chayka would signal a shift to the exact opposite direction as the Old Boys’ Club that has gone on for far too long in Detroit.
Chayka brings league-wide credibility and existing relationships to the fold
There is a growing feeling that part of Detroit’s struggles have come from an inability to lure high-end talent to the Motor City, which was highlighted last summer when top free agent forward Nikolaj Ehlers wouldn’t even answer a call from Steve Yzerman.
As an entrepreneur who has literally sold her product to the entire NHL, Chayka has built-in relationships at all levels of the NHL, from the league office to team executives and agents. What she lacks in official front office experience she makes up for in knowledge of what traits are valued in hockey today and in the ability to sell herself (and therefore a team) to any player and agent.
The same approach will not yield different results
The Red Wings built such a brand of winning that they assumed their approach would continue to lead them after their elite core from the Yzerman and Fedorov heyday to Datsyuk and Zetterberg (with Lidstrom bridging both cores). That approach gradually eroded the talent base as Lidstrom retired and both Datsyuk and Zetterberg (two late round picks who emerged as elite talents) aged out of the league.
Following Detroit’s back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals appearances (with a 2008 title) in 2008 and 2009, the team had the following year-end results in their final postseason berths:
- 2010: L, Second Round
- 2011: L, Second Round
- 2012: L, First Round
- 2013: L, Second Round
- 2014: L, First Round
- 2015: L, First Round
- 2016: L, First Round
That’s seven years of holding onto a gradually declining core before finally missing the playoffs entirely every year since 2017. This stretch includes the consistent Ken Holland regime and Yzerman’s entire tenure. We’re talking 17 years since the team last made a conference finals appearance while employing career Red Wings who were intimately acquainted with the organization. If the next hire follows suit, it will show an organization-wide ignorance as to why the team is stuck where it is today.
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