Remember when NHL fans thought this offseason would be boring due to the lackluster free agency class? Good times. This offseason has not been short on storylines, and just when you thought things on the NHL side were slowing down, the league received some gigantic news.
On Wednesday, the Detroit Red Wings announced that Steve Yzerman was stepping down as executive vice president and general manager. The timing of this was weird, considering the Red Wings allowed Yzerman to complete the NHL Draft and work in the early stages of free agency. Now, there are real questions about the direction of their franchise, and whether or not they will trade captain Dylan Larkin. Let's not forget, Larkin requested a trade this offseason due to the team missing the playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons and his rocky relationship with Yzerman.
Whoever the next general manager is for the Red Wings will have their work cut out for them. As it turns out, there could be one candidate from the New York Rangers organization that could be Yzerman's replacement.
The Athletic's Max Bultman went through 13 potential candidates to replace Yzerman. One of them is Rangers associate general manager Ryan Martin, who has ties to the Red Wings organization when he ran their AHL team, the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Could Rangers lose front office member to Red Wings after Steve Yzerman's exit?
"Martin is an associate general manager with the New York Rangers and GM of their AHL affiliate in Hartford. But before that, he spent 16 years in the Red Wings’ front office, managing the Griffins and working under Ken Holland and then (briefly) Yzerman," writes Bultman. "He’s also been a big part of USA Hockey at the junior and senior levels, including serving as GM for the 2022 World Championship team. He has history and familiarity with the organization but is removed from the current management group."
If there is one thing that NHL teams like, it's familiarity. That's why we see so many of the same head coaching candidates keep getting new gigs. But for Martin, it's hard to look past the fact that he had spent nearly two decades with the Red Wings.
Martin was with the Red Wings back in the 2005-06 season, where he was initially the director of hockey administration. In 2010-11, Martin was named assistant general manager for the Red Wings before eventually adding general manager of Grand Rapids in 2013-14. During his time leading the Griffins, they won the Calder Cup for the 2016-17 season.
Beyond the Red Wings, Martin was the general manager for Team USA during the IIHF World Championships in 2022, where they finished in fourth place in the tournament.
In the 2021-22 season, Martin left the Red Wings to join the Rangers organization as an associate general manager under Chris Drury, and to be the general manager of the Hartford Wolf Pack. Hartford has been under the microscope this past season, as the Wolf Pack had a brutal campaign and brought attention to the lack of depth in the Rangers' prospect pipeline.
Martin was under serious consideration for other general manager vacancies this offseason. He was a candidate for the Toronto Maple Leafs, only for the team to hire John Chayka instead. Martin also interviewed for the Nashville Predators' general manager job, which was given to former Colorado Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland, who was also given the title of president of hockey operations.
We'll see if the Red Wings give Martin a call to interview for their general manager vacancy. Given his history with the Red Wings, it's hard not to see him get an interview with his former team.
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