DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings will start training camp this week with leaders of the front office and the team in limbo.
The Red Wings named Shawn Horcoff as interim general manager and shifted former GM Steve Yzerman to his new role as a senior advisor for the franchise.
Red Wings CEO Chris Ilitch made the moves Tuesday, two days before training camp opens without a captain on the ice, saying the search continues for a new GM.
The team announced last week that Dylan Larkin, who has asked to be traded, is expected to be at Detroit's training camp after being stripped of the captaincy.
Yzerman abruptly stepped down in mid-July, and the Red Wings said any decisions about Larkin’s future would be made by the next person in charge of hockey operations.
It's unclear if that will be Horcoff's call.
The 47-year-old Horcoff has been Detroit's assistant general manager since 2022. He previously worked for the team as its director of player development and assistant director of player personnel. Horcoff, a former Michigan State star, had 511 career points in 1,008 NHL games with Edmonton, Dallas and Anaheim.
“As our process continues to find the best possible leader for Red Wings hockey operations, I’m appreciative of Shawn for stepping up to serve in this capacity,” Ilitch said. “His knowledge of our organization and range of experience allows us to operate with a clear decision-maker in place for the season ahead, while maintaining our commitment to carry out a thorough, methodical search process on our own timeline.
“Our search has attracted significant interest in the head of hockey operations position from respected leaders across the industry, and several of those candidates, including Shawn, remain under consideration for the permanent role."
The Red Wings have not been in the playoffs in a decade and seven of those seasons were with Yzerman leading the franchise he starred for as a Hall of Fame player.
“A thorough evaluation of our hockey operations following this past season’s disappointing finish led to discussions with Steve Yzerman and a determination that a change was necessary," Ilitch said.
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FILE - Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin celebrates his goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Detroit, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
FILE - Dallas Stars forward Shawn Horcoff (10) pressures the New York Rangers defense during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Dec. 29, 2014, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday defended the bureau's loosening of hiring requirements regarding prostitution and bestiality, saying the changes were meant to enable victims of those acts to apply for employment without fear of automatic disqualification.
The FBI quietly issued guidance this past spring lifting a categorical hiring ban on applicants who had previously engaged in prostitution, and said that it would instead consider the context of the behavior in at least some cases. The bureau made a similar change with regard to bestiality.
Pressed about the moves at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing, Patel denied that the changes reflected a lowering of employment standards and insisted that they were designed to protect victims who had been forced to engage in that conduct and preclude them from being automatically disqualified.
“We did not want to punish victims of bestiality, victims who were trafficked. We did not want to make it an automatic disqualification for the FBI to consider you,” Patel said.
The answer did little to satisfy Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, who grilled Patel about the rationale for a change that the FBI director said was proposed to him by subordinates.
“When you saw bestiality, I say this with respect: The person who recommended it, why didn't you just say what planet did you parachute in from?” Kennedy asked.
Patel replied that that was his initial reaction but he came to see it as a way of supporting victims.
The Republican-led panel tried to keep the focus on Patel's efforts to combat violent crime, counter drug trafficking and pursue the Trump administration's agenda from his perch at the nation's premier federal law enforcement agency.
But Democrats seized on the tumult inside the FBI over the last year, including sweeping firings of agents who participated in investigations into President Donald Trump, efforts by the bureau to investigate Trump's perceived political adversaries and Patel's travel schedule that has blended private leisure with professional responsibilities.
“Mr. Patel is the least qualified and most partisan FBI director in our nation's history,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the panel's top Democrat, said in his opening statement at the hearing. He accused Patel of wielding the bureau's law enforcement powers to seek retribution against Trump's political opponents and pursue the president's grievances, including his false claims that the 2020 election he lost was stolen.
Patel has made multiple appearances before Congress while serving as director, including to testify about the FBI's budget, but this was his first time since last September before the Senate committee that has principal oversight jurisdiction over the bureau.
That hearing featured feisty and personal exchanges with Democrats, with Patel at one point shouting over Sen. Adam Schiff of California as he called him an “utter disgrace” and a “coward.”
"You can make an internet troll the FBI director, but he will always be an internet troll,” Schiff shot back.
Tuesday's hearing was expected to be no less contentious given Democrats' fierce criticism of his leadership and conduct. Durbin called for Patel to be replaced as director in April following an article by The Atlantic magazine that raised allegations of excessive drinking.
Patel later filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit, calling the article false and a “malicious hit piece.” The Atlantic said it stood by its reporting and would vigorously defend against the “meritless lawsuit.”
FBI Director Kash Patel listens during the Senate Judiciary hearing on Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
FBI Director Kash Patel testifies during the Senate Judiciary hearing on Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
FBI Director Kash Patel testifies during the Senate Judiciary hearing on Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
FBI Director Kash Patel speaks as Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., left and Vice President JD Vance listen during an event at the FBI Field Office in Kansas City, Mo., Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
