Shawn Horcoff is standing at the podium saying all the correct things about Simon Edvinsson. The interim GM inherited this mess; he didn't create it. The man who made it, Chris Ilitch, hasn't said a word while his own fanbase chanted "sell the team."
Start with what's actually known. Elliotte Friedman reported Saturday that Edvinsson would prefer a trade out of Detroit. Friedman was careful about it: "I want to make it very clear before I start on this one, the team and the agents are not talking," and "There is word today around the league that unsigned Detroit defenseman Simon Edvinsson prefers a trade from the Red Wings." That's a preference relayed through league channels. Some outlets jumped straight to calling it a formal request. The sourcing is softer than that. It doesn't make it less damning.
This is how a 23-year-old, 6-foot-6 defenseman got here. His entry-level deal expired on June 30. He wanted a two-year bridge or a max seven-year term. Detroit wanted the short bridge. Neither side moved on term, and talks stalled right into the start of the season. Through all of it, this is a kid who wanted to be there. He arranged his own insurance so he could skate with the Wings during camp. He practiced daily and didn't dog it. When the exhibition schedule ended and he still had no contract, he flew home to Sweden to skate with Frolunda. Horcoff's reaction: "I didn't expect that."
That line is the whole problem. Your highest-upside young defenseman books a flight out of the country and your front office is caught flat. A player who went out of his way to show up got frustrated enough to want out. This is an organization failing a layup.
You can make the case for the bridge deal itself. A team holding the line on term for a defenseman who hasn't played an NHL game on his next contract is ordinary business. Teams win that standoff all the time. Fine. The failure is letting a routine negotiation curdle into a trade preference while the chair above Horcoff sits empty of accountability.
And it is empty. Steve Yzerman has been moved to senior advisor, Horcoff is the interim GM, and the one person sitting atop every bit of this structure is Ilitch. The management group's hands might be tied by constraints from above, but that only pushes the blame up. It stops at his desk.
Detroit's fans already know where to aim. They booed Dylan Larkin and chanted "sell the team" at the home opener. They're not confused about who runs this place. Edvinsson is the second player this fall who'd rather be somewhere else. When two different guys reach for the exit, the common thread is the people who keep letting it happen, starting with the man at the top.
Horcoff can keep saying the right things. The silence that matters is coming from the top.
