The Free Press’s Carlos Monarrez weighs in regarding the challenges Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman faces in attempting to trade disgruntled captain Dylan Larkin:
What Yzerman needs to understand very clearly about his first fight in three decades is that this is a fight he cannot win.
Regardless of how angry he is at Larkin, regardless of how betrayed he feels, regardless of how much he wants to show Larkin who’s the boss, regardless of just about any factor you can think of, Yzerman must throw in the towel and trade Larkin to one of his preferred teams.
If Yzerman digs in his heels and refuses to trade Larkin because he can’t get what he believes is fair value in a trade with one of the few teams Larkin is willing to waive his no-movement clause for, that creates the possibility of an ugly and potentially toxic environment that could poison the Wings’ season, their future and hasten the end of Yzerman’s tenure as GM.
Monarrez paints a picture of Larkin having to come to training camp as a player who doesn’t want to be in Detroit…
Just imagine this scenario: Yzerman can’t or won’t trade Larkin. Training camp arrives in September. Does Yzerman let Larkin remain the captain or does he conduct a public defrocking in which he personally rips the “C” off his sweater?
Do factions start to form in the locker room? While some would remain loyal to their best and longest-tenured player and share his frustration with the direction of Yzerman’s inert rebuild, others could vent their own frustration with Larkin choosing to abandon them.
How does that not spill out onto the ice? How does a team endure that kind of fractious environment, especially during the struggles and skids all teams endure?
Continued (paywall); Monarrez argues that the Red Wings face a situation that’s similar to the one the Montreal Canadiens faced with a disgruntled Patrick Roy in 1995, when Roy demanded to be traded:
The Larkin situation will muddy the waters with NHL free agency set to open Wednesday, July 1. Will good players want to sign with a team that appears dysfunctional and is on the verge of losing its best player? Or will teams that miss out on those rare 30-goal-scoring centers who play great defense and win faceoffs be more willing to sweeten their offer for Larkin?
There are no players with 30-goal-scoring pedigrees on the NHL’s weak free agent marketplace this year…
Whatever happens, Yzerman needs to think very carefully about how he approaches this trade fight with Larkin with nearly no leverage on his side. If there’s any way for this to end successfully for Yzerman, it begins by trading Larkin as soon as possible.
I have many, many thoughts about Monarrez’s somewhat purposefully incendiary comments…
But I’m gonna keep things brief instead.
First, I don’t believe that the Red Wings would ask Larkin to show up at training camp if they cannot trade him by the start of the Wings’ preparations for the 26-27 season.
Second, as Yzerman suggested on Saturday afternoon, the team needs to maximize its return for Larkin first and foremost, regardless of whether that means waiting for a bit to hammer out a deal…
And regardless of whether the assets they receive in return for #71 yield immediate help, or those assets can be “flipped” to a 3rd team for immediate help.
This is a no-win situation. The Wings probably won’t be compensated with a player of Larkin’s pedigree; they’ll receive a combination of lesser players, prospects and/or draft picks instead. Detroit will have a #1 center problem, and they’ll have to eventually address it through a trade over the course of the 2026-2027 season, or next summer’s free agent marketplace.
But there is no reason for the team to trade Larkin right now just because the situation is unpleasant. Yzerman’s job is to work toward the best interests of the team, and if we Wings partisans have to wait for the solution to this situation to present itself, we have to wait.
