Earlier this off-season, Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin submitted a trade request. But thus far, GM Steve Yzerman hasn't dealt Larkin. Will it be reasonable for Yzerman to expect Larkin back in Detroit next season if he can't find the right trade package?
After an abysmal late-season collapse that saw them miss the Stanley Cup playoffs for the 10th straight season, the Detroit Red Wings have had an abysmal 2026 off-season as well.
And that’s not because the Red Wings have made a slew of poor signings and trades. What’s still an overarching black cloud of negativity for the Wings is that they’ve yet to trade captain Dylan Larkin, who made an official trade request that Detroit GM Steve Yzerman recently acknowledged.
But now – more than a week after that trade request acknowledgement – Larkin remains a Red Wing. Yzerman has made it clear he’s going to be making moves in the best interest of the team, not the player. So some observers believe Yzerman is ready, willing and able to deny Larkin’s request and keep him in the lineup in 2026-27.
However, while Yzerman can and should put up a brave front for public consumption and pretend that Larkin is going to play more games in a Red Wings uniform, picture what could happen if Larkin isn’t traded.
When training camp begins, there will be an army of media asking pointed questions. Could the Wings function and focus when, every day, there’ll be constant questions about Larkin’s future in Detroit?
That potential situation could get sufficiently ugly to be a burden that Red Wings players have no choice but to deal with daily. It will be a constant distraction, and no amount of brave posturing will change the fact that Larkin has checked out.
Larkin knew there was no turning back once he informed Yzerman that he wanted a trade. And there’ll be a poisonous atmosphere in Motown if Larkin sticks around.
This is the reason why the Vancouver Canucks traded star defenseman Quinn Hughes this past season. If Vancouver wanted to live and die by the terms of Hughes’ current contract, they could’ve kept him on the Canucks. Instead, Vancouver looked at Hughes’ unwillingness to sign a contract extension as a de facto trade request, and they made the best of a bad situation by trading Hughes.
Similarly, when the Canucks had a dressing room problem between star forwards J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson, Vancouver management could’ve thrown up their hands and told Pettersson and Miller they needed to learn to get along, and held both to the terms of their contract. But that would’ve only led to the Canucks continuing to be a team divided – and that’s why Miller was eventually traded to the New York Rangers.
Thus, if Yzerman tries going the scorched-earth route with Larkin, you’d better believe there will be constant questions about Yzerman’s judgement.
Given that Larkin has presented Yzerman with a list of more than one team, Yzerman should be able to get a manageable trade package. Not a terrific trade package, but a solid one. Because Larkin wants out means Yzerman can now only make the best of a bad situation. That means accepting a trade package that doesn’t bring back the exact amount of talent going out of the Wings organization when Larkin leaves.
At this stage, the optics of a Larkin return to Detroit would be exceedingly negative, with all the focus on Yzerman and Larkin. But between the two of them, the Wings GM and captain should be able to figure out an exit for Larkin that helps Detroit as much as possible.
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