Dylan Larkin now sits at the center of a Detroit Red Wings front-office shakeup as Todd McLellan waits to see who will make the biggest call.
Steve Yzerman stepped out of the general manager chair and moved into a senior advisor role, ending a seven-year run that never got Detroit back into the playoffs.
That alone would have been a major story in Hockeytown.
The timing made it even louder.
Detroit finished that stretch with a 224-251-62 record, and now the search for a replacement is being led by Ilitch Sports CEO Ryan Gustafson.
According to Elliotte Friedman, Brendan Shanahan has quickly emerged as a name to watch. That instantly pushed the search into a bigger spotlight.
Other names have also surfaced, including internal options Kris Draper and Shawn Horcoff, plus outside executive Evan Gold. But the real issue goes beyond the shortlist.
The draft is over. The first wave of free agency is gone. Detroit already made its summer moves before opening the GM seat.
The Larkin decision hangs over everything in Detroit
Yzerman put together this version of the roster, including six July 1 signings, the Keegan Kolesar trade, and Detroit's draft class. The next GM would be walking into a team built by someone else.
That matters because a new executive usually wants control over the draft table and the first days of free agency. Detroit's next hire won't get either.
It also leaves McLellan coaching a roster and staff structure that the incoming GM did not choose. That can shape everything from the blue line mix to the bottom six.
Then there's Larkin. His trade request remains unresolved, and that is the biggest hockey decision in front of this franchise right now.
If that call drags out, Detroit risks handing its next GM a defining issue before he has even settled into the office. If it gets handled before the hire, the new boss loses control of his biggest first move.
So yes, Shanahan may be the frontrunner. But this story is really about what Detroit already gave away by waiting until mid-July to make a change that affects the whole organization.
Should the Red Wings settle Dylan Larkin's future before naming the next GM?
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