The Red Wings have officially confirmed that they’ve painted a “Hockeytown” logo on the ice at Little Caesars Arena for this upcoming season. I hope the Wings grow back into that name some time soon:
Three of the Red Wings’ beat writers spoke with local and national broadcasters, and podcasters, regarding the Red Wings’ front office uncertainty and Dylan Larkin’s complicated situation.
First, via SI’s Jayd Serdy, the Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan spoke with WWJ Newsradio 950 and 97.1 the Ticket’s Jeremy Otto regarding the intertwined nature of the Wings’ general managerial flux and Dylan Larkin’s trade demands…
Red Wings beat writer @tkulfan: "people around the organization I wouldn't want to say the word confident but the thing is they kinda feel like when the time comes, Dylan Larkin is gonna be in camp. I mean the options are limited. Does he want to hold out? I doubt that"
Kulfan suggests that the Red Wings may see Dylan Larkin head to training camp (where he would be accepted by the team), start the season with and possibly rectify the situation with Detroit because the new GM would be running out of time to trade #71 given that it’s mid-August.
Kulfan says that with 65 goals out of the lineup in Larkin, Kane and JvR gone, Detroit needs as much offense as possible…But Kulfan is less certain that Larkin would end the season in Detroit.
Second, Detroit Hockey Now’s Kevin Allen spoke with the Flying Octopod’s Evan Sabourin, Devin Little and Tony Wolak regarding the Red Wings’ managerial search and Dylan Larkin’s trade demands…
–St. James suggests that Steve Yzerman’s timing in choosing to step down from the Red Wings’ GM position is unusual to say the very least;
–St. James believes that the Red Wings should emulate Zach Werenski’s trade demand in Columbus and try to rectify the situation by reconciling to find a way to salvage their relationship, with HSJ suggesting that the Red Wings’ fans can accept Larkin again;
–St. James also notes that the Red Wings must attempt to find a Dylan Larkin-type player in return for a trade, and while the Red Wings are “miffed” that they’ve paid him $31 million of his total salary on that 8-year deal, with an $8.7 million cap hit left on the marketplace…
–And St. James describes the Red Wings’ situation as “dismal” as of mid-August, because she suggests that Detroit needs to find a GM/Director of Hockey Operations who must decide whether to reconcile with Larkin or trade him for “futures,” which would set back Raymond and Seider’s playoff aspirations, and he/they must re-sign Simon Edvinsson and get ready for the rookie tournament and training camp as well.
With the Red Wings a month away from the start of training camp, one of the biggest questions remaining on the roster is how the teamās on-ice leadership group will shake out. Mo Seider appears to be the heir apparent to the Red Wings captaincy with current captain Dylan Larkinās trade request hanging over the franchise like a dark cloud.
Seider has proven himself, in the words of head coach Todd McLellan, āto be the heartbeat of this teamā and āa true diesel engineā who the Red Wings should follow the example of. Thatās probably why McLellan got rid of the teamās rotating alternate captain system and put the āAā on Seiderās chest after coming to the team two years ago.
Now, with Larkin on the way out the door and Seider stepping up, the Red Wings next leadership group will be quite different than it was at this time last year. Lucas Raymond and Alex DeBrincat are the most obvious options for the postion, especially with Patrick Kaneās exit.
Continued; Seider makes a whole lot of sense as captain, and I’d suggest that the final “A” would be a toss-up between DeBrincat and a veteran like Ben Chiarot, with DeBrincat earning the nod as a “carrot” with which to entrench him as a Red Wing.
Still recovering from an Achilles injury suffered late in his draft year, Bear was slow out of the gate last season. He refuses to let anyone suggest that the ailment played any role in his slow start.
āNo, I donāt really like to put any excuse on it,ā Bear said. āI started playing, and it just went away from my mind and started to feel normal. Yeah, itās all healthy now, for sure.ā
Boy, did it ever go away. Bear absolutely ignited as fall turned to winter. He finished with 36 goals, 77 points, and a +45 rating in 53 games for Everett. He added seven goals, 22 points, and a +22 rating in 18 playoff games. Everett won the WHL title, ultimately falling to the Kitchener Rangers in the Memorial Cup final.
āAs a kid, you watch the Memorial Cup each year, and playing it was pretty special to do with the group of guys I had in Everett,ā Bear said. āFor sure was unbelievable. So, yeah, it was pretty cool. But it sucks how we came up short.ā
Andrew Copp: He is the most logical choice to fill that top-line center spot until a better option becomes available. Heād center Lucas Raymond, a shooter (who needs to shoot more), and probably Emmitt Finnie, whoād bring much-needed speed that would be lacking without Larkin. Copp fit in well the second half of the season on the second line with Alex DeBrincat and Patrick Kane and produced career highs in assists (34) and points (43) to go along with nine goals. He was the teamās most effective faceoff man (54.2 percent).
J.T. Compher: He hasnāt been able to secure the second-line center spot, and his production has declined in each of his three seasons in Detroit (11 goals, 28 points in 82 games last season). But heād be the best option to center a line with DeBrincat and perhaps newly acquired Viktor Arvidsson.
Marco Kasper: If he plays like he did the second half of his rookie season, Kasper would be a fixture in the top six and possibly the second-line center. The team tried everything to get him going last season, playing him at center, on the wing and on every line, but he couldnāt gain traction (nine goals, 19 points).
Continued (paywall); as Khan suggests, the Red Wings rather desperately need to acquire a center in exchange for Dylan Larkin, even if that means trading “futures” to a 3rd team in order to maximize Larkin’s value.
There’s a video included which shows Faulk with a big blonde mop of hair, but it’s not embeddable:
Red Wings defenseman Justin Faulk and Jets wing Cole Koepke were among those participating in the UMD alumni golf outing on Saturday.
Faulk, who played just one season at UMD, is entering his 16th season in the NHL and 2nd in Detroit. As for Koepke, he’s back for a 2nd straight year with Winnipeg.
Both gave their thoughts on entering another year playing on the biggest stage.
“It’s a lot of work, it’s fun. I’m lucky to be able to do it. I never really knew how long my career would last or how long it would go but to keep playing, it’s a treat. I’ll take that over a lot of other things and any chance I get to go to the rink and keep skating, it’s awesome,” said Faulk.
“It’s super cool. I mean it’s a blessing to be in the NHL anywhere but to be up in Winnipeg with Dylan and Neal. We were all at UMD and we all actually went to Hermantown together so to be all in one spot I think is pretty cool,” added Koepke.
The three initial teams on [Dylan] Larkin’s accepted list were the Minnesota Wild, Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights, all of whom featured key members of the Gold Medal-winning US Olympic Team that Larkin was a part of in 2026. Unfortunately, the Red Wings’ asking price has made negotiations rather slow, and according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo on the latest The Sheet episode, both the Panthers and Golden Knights no longer have interest in acquiring him.
Whether that’s due to the asking price of a 1C in return for Larkin or simply not having the overall assets/salary cap space, these two teams are officially out of the race, even though they were always long shots to land him given what it would have taken to make a deal happen.
Now, Minnesota is in the box seat to acquire Larkin, with Russo confirming they still have interest. The team is reportedly not willing to give in to Detroit’s current asking price, one that could change with a new front office coming in. There’s been no time when the two parties have been close to getting a deal done.
As a result, the most likely outcome in this situation is a reconciliation that sees Larkin return to Detroit this upcoming season, unless the long-time Red Wings center were to expand his trade list. If that were to happen, the likes of San Jose, Montreal, Utah and New Jersey would reportedly be interested, but for now, nothing has changed for Larkin’s camp, as he remains adamant about a trade to one of his four teams.
According to an NHL source familiar with the impasse, the growing sense around the organization is Larkin will report to camp if he’s not traded by then ā which is likely.
Shawn Horcoff, who was Yzerman’s assistant GM, currently is filling Yzerman’s role but doesn’t have the power to make a trade or sign players. That leaves Larkin’s situation murky, and given when a new GM is finally named, it’s likely there will not be enough time for the executive to formulate and complete such an important, franchise-altering trade.
Larkin, too, would be forfeiting $8 million in actual salary ($8.7 million salary cap hit) if he fails to report to training camp. It’s unlikely Larkin would pass on that money obviously, not to mention face the further backlash and disappointment from fans, many of whom have turned on Larkin as it is.
Larkin may also have a change of heart regarding the Wings, given who the new GM might be and the new GM’s vision for the future. It’s believed Larkin’s frustration with Yzerman, and the Wings’ 10-year drought of missing the playoffs, is what initially led Larkin to ask for a trade.
Make no mistake: the Wings, everything being equal, would foremost love to have Larkin in the lineup. Larkin had 34 goals (ranking second) and 67 points (third) and the Wings would sorely miss that offense, given the way the way the Wings’ summer has gone.
Owner Chris Ilitch has hired a search firm, TurnkeyZRG, to identify potential candidates to fill Yzerman’s position. TurnkeyZRG helped Ilitch fill key spots in the Tigers’ front office, Ilitch’s baseball team, and the Tigers are listed as a recent client on TurnkeyZRG’s website.
Further, TurnkeyZRG was founded by Len Perna, currently chairman and chief executive officer, who previously was an executive director in sales for Ilitch Sports and Entertainment.
Between 2017 and 2023, the Red Wings had seven straight drafts of top-10 players, and with Raymond, Seider, Edvinsson, and Kasper drafted during that time, that may have served them well for their future. However, they need to add talent outside of that top-10 area, and in 2025 they’re hoping they landed an elite-level talent at No. 13 in Carter Bear, who has been dominating the WHL for years now.
Across the past two seasons, Bear has combined for 76 goals and 159 points in 109 regular-season games with the Everett Silvertips, and in 2025/26, he helped lead them all the way to the WHL Championship and an appearance at the Memorial Cup.
While he’s not as highly thought of as other forwards drafted in the past few years, the Red Wings won’t mind Bear flying under the radar, and with so much offensive upside, the hope is that he can be a true difference maker as he makes the jump in competition.
