The Broadcast Schedule Is Out. A GM Is Still Not.

Detroit released its national broadcast schedule this week, with adjusted start times for multiple games — the kind of routine organizational housekeeping that happens every August. Normally you file it and move on. This year it's worth a brief note, because the Red Wings are planning a television calendar for a season that still doesn't have a general manager attached to it.

Christopher Ilitch formalized the GM search on August 5. Three weeks later, the chair remains empty. In the meantime, the organization has kept moving — the trade for a prospect center with Michigan ties, the Tarasov signing, the broadcast rollout — which suggests the front office isn't frozen, just incomplete. Someone is keeping the lights on.

The problem is that the decisions that actually matter are piling up. Edvinsson's restricted free-agent situation remains unresolved. Larkin's extension is the franchise question nobody has authority to answer. The broadcast schedule will sort itself out regardless of who runs the hockey operation. The contract table will not.

So yes, the games have tip times. That's something.