TSN’s hockey insiders took part in a pre-free agency episode of Insider Trading on Tuesday evening…
And Chris Johnston, Pierre LeBrun and Darren Dreger discussed Dylan Larkin’s situation with Gino Reda:
REDA: There are a couple of centres looking for a change of scenery. What’s the latest on Dylan Larkin and Vincent Trocheck, Dregs?
DREGER: Yeah, and both of those guys are linked. It seems likely that if Larkin gets traded, then Trocheck, most likely, will be not that far behind.
I know a number of teams that have expressed some interest in Trocheck have circled back. To this point, Larkin has not been willing to expand his no-trade list, and it’s a limited list, as we know.
Dreger’s comment here clashes with other insiders’ takes. If he’s not expanding his trade list, it’s still Tampa Bay, Florida and Minnesota. LeBrun reported that Larkin was willing to expand his list of teams to which he’s willing to be traded, presumably per Larkin’s agent, Pat Brisson, but things can change quickly in these scenarios.
That puts the Detroit Red Wings in a real bind here. They know what they need to replace the talent of Larkin. They can’t go backwards in a deal like this.
So if a deal doesn’t materialize, if Larkin doesn’t expand his limited no-trade list, well, then that means that the Red Wings are expecting Larkin to show up in training camp. I don’t think that would be best case scenario for either the player or the team.
Maybe Trocheck and the New York Rangers will pull the trigger sooner rather than later. But again, these two veteran centres are linked in some capacities.
Continued; I can’t imagine the Wings having Larkin show up for training camp as a disgruntled captain, but Larkin probably won’t be traded this week, either.
