I generally like the Free Press’s Carlos Monarrez’s “stir the pot” comments, but this morning, I think he’s gone a little daffy. Monarrez argues that Dylan Larkin’s dominant performance at the Four Nations Face-Off is in fact the justification for trading #71 to another team a year from now:
There’s a difference between Larkin and Raymond. Larkin is six years older and he’s running out of time. He only has about two or three years left in his prime.
As much as everyone wants to believe he’ll finish his career as a Red Wing, especially with six years left on his eight-year, $69.6 million extension, it might not be the best thing for his career if the Wings keep missing the playoffs.
The answer is simple, albeit hard to swallow for Wings fans: If the Wings miss the playoffs this season and the next, they should trade Larkin to a contender for his age 30 season. Because if the Wings miss the next two playoffs, that should be the end of Steve Yzerman’s tenure as general manager.
That would mean another reset, if not a complete rebuild with a new direction under a new regime and a new coaching staff that would be Larkin’s fourth.
This isn’t the optimal situation anyone wants, especially Larkin, who would have to leave the only home he’s ever known and waive his no-trade clause. But anyone who has appreciated such an underappreciated player like Larkin – and certainly Larkin himself – has to ask themselves how much longer is he willing to waste his talent and miss out on being part of the biggest moments on the game’s biggest stage?
Continued; frankly, that’s a bunch of hooey.
First, Larkin is definitely getting older, but it’s hard to imagine his skills falling off a cliff when he turns 30, especially when you look at his work ethic and ability to drive play. He’s incredibly valuable to the Red Wings as a two-way center, and even if he’s not scoring 30+ goals when he’s 32 or 33, he’s going to remain an integral part of the leadership core;
Second, as I’ve been saying all year long, Steve Yzerman is going to be the Red Wings’ general manager for as long as he wants to be the Red Wings’ general manager, and there is no way that he’s going to completely reset what he’s admitted might be a 10-to-12-year rebuild. He can always revise and edit, but you don’t rebuild from scratch and then rebuild from scratch again. That’s not a sound strategy.
Put bluntly, those things are not going to happen. Anyone and everyone can get traded, and stranger things have happened, but this is just stir-the-pot stuff.
