Detroit Lost Three Goaltenders in Nine Days. No GM to Fix It.

Sebastian Cossa was traded to Colorado on June 27. Jack Campbell retired on July 20. Michael Hutchinson followed him out the door on July 27. Three goaltenders with Red Wings ties, gone inside five weeks, with the last two departures coming in a nine-day window that also featured the Kane trade and the ongoing search for a new general manager. It is a lot of ground to lose at one position in a short stretch.

Campbell and Hutchinson were both veteran depth pieces rather than franchise cornerstones — the kind of insurance that quietly matters when a starter goes down. Hutchinson played 11 seasons as an undrafted free agent who carved out a career on reliability; Campbell had a longer run as a projected starter before his trajectory flattened. Neither was going to solve Detroit's goaltending questions on his own. But their departures, stacked on top of Cossa's trade, leave the pipeline noticeably thin heading into a summer when no one is yet in charge of restocking it.

That last part is the real problem. Whoever the new GM turns out to be will inherit a position group that has been substantially dismantled before they've had any say in the direction. The defensive collapse at the end of last season — 4.5 goals allowed per game over the final 10 — was already the clearest structural problem on the roster. Goaltending is now layered on top of it.

The Kane note I filed earlier this week was about a leadership vacuum creating collateral damage. This is more of the same, just at a different position. Things keep moving while no one is steering.