Canadiens: Is Larkin To Montreal Dead And Buried?

With Dylan Larkin telling the Detroit Red Wings he won’t play for them anymore and choosing to stay home, it feels like that saga could soon be over. However, the player may have to compromise if he really wants out of Detroit. The Wings then suspended him without pay; it’s one thing to stay home, but quite another when it costs you thousands of dollars a day. Clearly, the Wings aren't finding a suitable deal with the team Larkin has preapproved, and they aren’t about to trade him for less than market value.

Assistant GM Kris Draper has been seen scouting teams that aren’t on his list, like the Montreal Canadiens and the St. Louis Blues, for instance. If the Wings feel they could get a fair deal with a team Larkin hasn’t approved, it’s not surprising they haven’t pulled the trigger. Essentially, it’s like they’ve sent him to his room for a timeout to think about what he’s done and think about how much he wants out of town.

You have to admire how Detroit is handling this. They have an asset that was their captain and was under contract for five more years. He’s a good player who could be worth a lot to a Stanley Cup contender, and they won’t be held hostage. This is not Brady Tkachuk not only forcing his way out of Ottawa but also choosing his destination.

Perhaps a team not on Larkin’s list has made an offer the Wings feel is fair, and they have decided to force the player to accept it out of desperation. The Habs are likely not the only ones to have spoken to Shawn Horcroff, but given the attention the Wings’ scouting staff has given them, it must have been a very interesting one.

Given the Canadiens’ cap situation, it's clear they'd need to send some roster players to the Wings to bring in Larkin’s $8.7 million contract. Who could be included in that offer? Well, it’s safe to say that Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, Ivan Demidov and Lane Hutson are going nowhere, but the Tricolore have other players to offer. Kaiden Guhle could be the kind of player that makes a package attractive, and his $5.55 million cap hit would be a good start. Oliver Kapanen, a promising young center, could also be interesting, especially since he was given top-line duty with Draper in attendance. Kirby Dach and his $3.6 million contract could also come into play.

Although two of those three players have a sizeable injury history, so that likely wouldn’t suffice. Blueliner Adam Engstrom and a top prospect could help sweeten the deal. Larkin is a center, so Horcoff could potentially demand Michael Hage to make the deal happen, but if Detroit thinks Kapanen and Dach have good center potential, perhaps Hughes could talk them into taking Alexander Zharovsky instead.

It doesn’t feel like the Larkin-to-Montreal chatter will die down anytime soon, unless, of course, he lands elsewhere. The idea would then officially be dead and buried, but we’re not there yet.

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