ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski ponders whether he’s making overreactions to news items of note from the first full week of the NHL offseason, and here’s what he has to say about the Dylan Larkin situation:
Dylan Larkin will start the season in Detroit
There’s a difference between the “player empowerment” happening with Dylan Larkin and that of his Team USA friends. Brady Tkachuk and Ottawa parted ways, with him having two years left on his contract. Ditto Zach Werenski, seeking to finish the last two years of his contract elsewhere.
But Larkin has five more years left on his deal with the Red Wings. There’s no threat of him not re-signing after an eight-year deal that started in 2024.
GM Steve Yzerman said he received the trade request and the teams to which Larkin would like to be traded, which reportedly are Florida, Minnesota and Vegas.
“My job as the manager of the Detroit Red Wings is always to do what is in the best interest of the Detroit Red Wings, and I will act accordingly to that,” Yzerman said after the NHL draft. “I cannot make any guarantees, or did not make any guarantees, that that request could or would be met.”
That sounds like a GM ready to play the long game with his captain, even if that game extends into the regular season.
The verdict: OVERREACTION. It has been interesting to see how the power dynamics have shifted to Larkin having a full no-movement clause. With Tkachuk, that protection led to Florida being the only destination. With Werenski, that protection meant refusing a trade to the Western Conference. With Larkin, the no-trade clause has prevented the Red Wings from trading him to a destination of their choosing, and that’s the purpose of the clause. But now Yzerman is playing hardball over that trade protection.
His wager, and it’s a good one: that Larkin will not want to walk into training camp as a captain abandoning his ship, nor will he want to sit out for an indefinite amount of time with no pay if he doesn’t report. Hence, the hope is that he’ll expand his trade horizons beyond a team that doesn’t want to break up its core (Florida) and teams that might not have the pieces Yzerman is seeking (Minnesota and Vegas).
Larkin’s agent Pat Brisson is a pragmatist. He has navigated choppier waters in the past. The relationship between player and GM is likely too far gone to repair. Even though Yzerman can win the waiting game, this one should be resolved before the season.
Continued; the relationship between player and fan base is too far gone to repair, too.
