Bleacher Report’s Adam Gretz discusses “5 teams that need a game-changing trade after missing out during the 2026 offseason,” and Gretz includes the Red Wings on his list:
Detroit Red Wings: Whether Steve Yzerman stepped away from the Detroit Red Wings general manager role on his own, or if he was forced out of it does not really matter. It is irrelevant to the reality that something needed to change here.
(Yes, it does matter…But not necessarily for Gretz’s point)…
The team is on a 10-year playoff drought, seven under Yzerman’s watch, with some absolutely appalling late-season meltdowns to blame for it. Even worse, his longest-tenured player and team captain, Dylan Larkin, requested a trade this offseason.
Does that request still stand with a new GM? Possibly. Whether it does or does not, and whether the Red Wings trade him or play hardball with him, this is still a team desperately needing something to give it a spark.
Especially given the fact they still have $19.5 million in unused salary cap space and only restricted free agent defenseman Simon Edvinsson left to re-sign.
Potentially moving Larkin out would likely open up more salary cap space.
But moving Larkin is more about infusing talent than just spending unused cap space, right? Especially given that Simon Edvinsson’s likely to earn about $8-9 million of that $19 million in unused salary cap space via a contract extension, right?
How do you possibly sell your fans on going into the season with that much unused salary cap space, coming off that end of the regular season, and combined with potentially trading your captain that no longer wants to play for you?
The new general manager, whoever it might be, is going to be walking into chaos and facing a fan base with an understandably short temper.
The Dallas Stars are one of the teams reportedly on Larkin’s list of approved trade spots. The Stars have a contract situation with Jason Robertson that doesn’t seem to be ending. Is there something there that could make everybody happy? Would Robertson sign with the Red Wings long-term? Even if it is not something that bold, the Red Wings need something because this playoff drought is not going to end with the same roster that has failed to end it the past few seasons.
Whether Dallas is on Larkin’s trade list depends on whether you believe Helene St. James, who says that Larkin’s still limiting the Wings to Florida, Vegas and Minnesota, or Ansar Khan, who reported that the Stars are also on Larkin’s list…
And I don’t see the Wings swapping out Larkin for Robertson 1-for-1 given that Robertson’s 40-goal-scoring caliber is a step above Larkin’s trade value…
But it would be nice if the Red Wings made some sort of impact move to at least offset the imminent exit of Patrick Kane.
Right now, the scuttlebutt among the hockey media seems to be that whoever replaces/supplants Yzerman should try to mend fences with Larkin, but it’s hard for me to imagine the Red Wings’ disgruntled captain choosing to drop his trade requests simply because he’s got someone else to be angry at.
Bluntly, I would suggest that the Red Wings have bigger fish to fry than to simply sell their fans on paying money to watch a team that hasn’t spent all of its salary cap space…
And that the “sell job” is even more difficult for a fan base that’s had to endure several ticket price increases over Yzerman’s 7-year tenure without on-ice results backing up the price hikes.
I don’t agree with all of Gretz’s points here, but the Red Wings do need to “do something” more than simply bringing in Viktor Arvidsson, Daniil Tarasov and trade acquisition Keegan Kolesar as upgrades over last season’s roster, especially with Kane out the door and Larkin halfway out the door.
Where I do agree with Gretz is that the Red Wings “doing something” doesn’t have to mean that Larkin has to be moved before the start of the 2026-2027 season, but it does mean doing something more than simply re-signing Edvinsson and calling it a summer.
At the very least, I’d love to see the Wings add a middle-six scorer via free agency (hello, Eeli Tolvanen?) to cushion Kane’s impending departure, if not something more aggressive.
