With Detroit’s captain officially requesting a trade, Anaheim may emerge as a premier suitor. Pat Verbeek could leverage unique stockpile to secure the elite, 200-foot veteran center.
Shockwaves were sent through the NHL landscape on Thursday afternoon, hours before puck drop for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, when premier NHL insider, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, reported that Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin (29) has requested a trade.
Through his 11-year career, the fleet-footed, detailed, 200-foot center has been the epitome of consistency and dependability. In 2025-26, Larkin scored 67 points (34-33=67) in 74 games while averaging 20:11 TOI per game, including 1:31 on the penalty kill.
Most NHL teams would, could, and/or should be interested in adding the 2026 Olympic Gold Medal-winning center to their top-six, and the Anaheim Ducks are no exception.
In 2026-27, Larkin will be entering the fourth year of an eight-year contract that carries an $8.7 million AAV and a full NTC. Larkin will ultimately choose his destination, but however much Detroit’s return may be lessened, it is unlikely Larkin will be traded for pennies on the dollar.
With uncertainty, both long and short term, at the center position behind franchise player Leo Carlsson, adding a player with Larkin’s skillset and pedigree seems like a tantalizing fit and could round out the Ducks’ forward group both on paper and on the ice.
Ducks general manager Pat Verbeek isn’t unfamiliar with Larkin, as the former was Detroit’s assistant general manager from 2019 until Feb. 2022, when he was hired as Anaheim’s GM. Verbeek has also been an active trade partner of his former employer, executing trades with the Wings in each of the last two summers.
As far as the potential pricetag for Larkin is concerned, the circumstances surrounding recent trades like Nazem Kadri to the Colorado Avalanche in 2026, Bo Horvat to the New York Islanders in 2023, JT Miller to the New York Rangers in 2025, and Tomas Hertl to the Vegas Golden Knights in 2024 could offer indications on what Detroit could receive in return for their now-former “heart and soul” player.
Where Larkin’s situation differs from those of the recent past, where players somewhat “hand-picked” their landing spot, is how seemingly endless the potential destinations are, given the lack of quality in the upcoming free agent class, ever-rising salary cap ceiling, and abundance of teams in need of a top-six centerman.
Mason McTavish (23) is a young piece whose name has been heavily discussed and speculated on among national media outlets as a player who could be on the move this offseason. If the Ducks were willing to move on from McTavish, it could give them an advantage, as not many teams could or would likely be willing to part with a player of his ilk in a deal like this.
Could a package of McTavish, a second tier prospct like Eric Nilsson or Lasse Boelius, and a first-round pick be enough for the Ducks to land Larkin? Impossible to say, but it would be somewhat surprising if the ultimate return were much more than that in terms of value.
With the Buffalo Sabres making the 2026 NHL Playoffs, Detroit is now the team with the league’s longest playoff drought, as they’ve missed the playoffs for the last ten seasons. On the surface, this potential package appears to be a standard “young roster player, prospect, and a first-round pick” deal. However, given Detroit’s situation and desperation to qualify for the playoffs, they may opt for more of a win-now approach when dealing their captain.
Ultimately, Larkin will be in control of where he’ll play the next five years of his career. For the Ducks, the question (aside from cost and fit) will be if they’ve done enough to become a destination for star players on the move. They took some significant steps in their build and made the playoffs for the first time in eight years. They offer a vastly different lifestyle from Detroit, given aspects like the weather and minimal media attention, and they offer a proven young core with seemingly limitless potential.
Verbeek enters the offseason with a projected $38.7 million in cap space, with the only true hole on the depth chart appearing on the right side of the Ducks’ blueline. Over half of that cap space will likely go towards hefty extensions for core pieces Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier. With a stockpile of picks, prospects, and young roster players, the Ducks are in as good a position as any to make a move of this magnitude this summer.
The 2026 NHL Draft Combine is underway in Buffalo, New York, which has become a marquee networking event on the NHL calendar, as all 32 teams will have front office representatives present for the week. Frameworks for deals could be discussed, and the next four to six weeks will likely be the busiest for transactions until 2026 training camps roll around.