Around the League

How to combat the NHL’s groupthink problem on head coach hirings | ESPN

And frankly, Glasberg is frustrated by antiquated hiring practices.

”The easiest way to frame it is an unwillingness to consider — let alone listen — to anybody who isn’t widely known by the hiring manager, whether it’s the GM, the [assistant] GM, owner, or whoever is running the search,” Glasberg said. “Which I think is selling themselves short. Why wouldn’t you want to talk to as many qualified people as possible? Instead, most NHL teams have this ‘hire-a-friend’ mentality. I hear this from my guys all the time: ‘It’s not the best candidate that gets hired. It’s the candidate with the best network or who is the best known.’ That’s not how you build success. No company would ever be successful if they were just hiring people they knew.”

This is a really interesting read, especially considering the Red Wings might be in the market for a new head coach sooner rather than later. I think it would be cool if Steve Yzerman thought outside the box whenever he makes his next coaching hire. Swedish team national coach Rikard Gronborg is a name mentioned in the article (and apparently Nicklas Lidstrom is one of his “big-time supporters”).

Would you be supportive of the Wings making a non-traditional head coaching hire?

In Red Wings Land

Red Wings are bad, but will they be worst in franchise history? | Detroit News

How dire is it? The 2019-20 season could go down as the worst in franchise history.

The Wings have a .261 winning percentage — the third-worst ever. The 1985-86 Red Wings went 17-57-6 (in an 80-game season, compared to 82 now) for a .250 percentage, and the 1976-77 team went 16-55-9 (also an 80-game schedule) for .256.

I think it’s going to be close. Yikes.