MLive’s Ansar Khan discusses whether Dylan Larkin or Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman has greater leverage as #71’s trade request drags out into the summer:
Yzerman is not going to be pressured into making a move in which he feels he’s not getting a good return for the face of the franchise. He’s clearly not getting that from any of the three teams on Larkin’s original list of clubs he agreed to waive his no-trade clause to join: Florida, Minnesota and Vegas.
The list has probably been expanded and will grow the longer this standoff goes. It might take a three-way trade for the Detroit captain to land in one of his approved destinations, with Minnesota being the most probable spot.
Larkin’s full no-trade clause at first seemed to give him the leverage.
That’s no longer the case if it ever was in the first place. Yzerman doesn’t seem the type to bluff when he says he’s willing to wait as long as it takes for the right deal. This is a tenure-defining move in a tenure that has fallen way short of expectations. He’s not going to simply take the best offer from a ridiculously short list of approved trade partners if the return doesn’t have the potential to immediately and significantly help this team.
I was doing some thinking overnight before I read Khan’s article, and I figured that this trade would indeed help define whether Yzerman succeeds as the Wings’ GM. I don’t think that’s just hyperbole here…
One way or another the Red Wings need a top-line center.
Could Larkin and the Red Wings reconcile like Zach Werenski, his close friend, and Columbus have for the time being? That’s unlikely. The Larkin-Yzerman feud has been simmering for a few years, and a separation seems inevitable.
If Larkin is still a Red Wing in September, he can show up to training camp and continue doing what he’s done in his 11 seasons with the franchise while waiting for a trade. Or he can refuse to report, get suspended without pay and leave a glaring hole in the lineup.
Continued (paywall); I can only speak for the fan base here, but I think that affording Larkin another chance to play for this team is a foolhardy concept. The relationship between player, team and partisans has been irrevocably damaged.
If the Wings have to tell Larkin to stay home in September, so be it.
Yzerman is a hardass, nothing has been irrevocably damaged. He dgaf if Larkins actions have put him in an awkward spot.
The issue is the teams that want him want to deal futures, not a sideways 1:1 hockey trade.
I don’t think Larkin is going anywhere for a long time.