MLive’s Ansar Khan believes that the Red Wings’ GM search may yield a resolution to the Dylan Larkin situation that doesn’t involve a trade away from Detroit:
News that Larkin wanted out broke on June 4. Larkin has not spoken publicly about the reason but it’s clearly a combination of the direction of a team that hasn’t reached the playoffs in 10 years and his acrimonious relationship with Yzerman.
Larkin, who has a full no-movement clause, originally submitted a list of three teams he would agree to join – Florida, Minnesota and Vegas. He since added Dallas to the list.
A move to any of those teams was going to be difficult for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the Red Wings’ desire to get back NHL-ready players, including a top-line center, and those clubs’ reluctance to part with such players.
Yzerman has spoken publicly only once since Larkin asked out, after the draft on June 27 when he said he could not guarantee Larkin would be traded and declined to elaborate on the situation or field questions about the matter.
Losing Larkin without acquiring a comparable player would be a huge setback for the team. He has scored 30 or more goals in each of the past five seasons for a team that ranked 30th in the NHL in five-on-five scoring.
Nope. Larkin’s going away.
