The Detroit Red Wings off-season has been a wild one thus far, and with the team currently having no General Manager or President of Hockey Operations, they’ve got plenty of work left to do ahead of the 2026/27 regular season.
When that new front office staff takes shape, they will immediately have to deal with the Dylan Larkin situation, as reports that the departure of Steve Yzerman from those roles potentially changing the captains mind on his trade request have been denied. That means that Larkin still wants to be traded, but with a small list of teams he’d accept a deal too, that trade became hard, and now, the latest update has made a deal seem almost impossible.
Panthers and Golden Knights Seemingly out on Dylan Larkin
GettyDylan Larkin of the Detroit Red Wings.
Originally when he asked for a trade, Larkin named the Vegas Golden Knights, Minnesota Wild and Florida Panthers as teams he’d accept a trade to, and given the USA Olympics teammates he has on each team, that certainly made sense. However, given the Red Wings asking price of a 1C (something that Larkin himself is not), any team with passing interest in him have now seemingly changed their mind.
Of those three teams, Michael Russo of The Athletic has now confirmed on the latest episode of The Sheet that only the Wild remain interested, with the Panthers (who acquired Brady Tkachuk this off-season) and Golden Knights both now no longer interested in potentially acquiring Detroit’s captain.
On paper, this makes perfect sense, as neither Florida nor Vegas have the assets to meet Detroit’s ridiculous asking price for Larkin, and while Minnesota are not willing to part ways with an asset like Joel Eriksson Ek to make a deal happen, they remain interested with the belief that the Red Wings may potentially accept an alternate package.
Will Dylan Larkin be Traded Before the Regular Season?
As of right now, all signs still point to Larkin likely being traded ahead of the regular season, but with now only one team actively in the race for him, unless he expands that trade list to potentially include teams like San Jose, Utah and even Montreal, he’s likely not going to get a destination that he currently wants.
Of course, the Wild could end up getting desperate in their pursuit of an upgrade down the middle, but after already acquiring Blake Coleman this off-season, their assets and salary cap are severely limited as they too look to deal with a mounting problem of Quinn Hughes’ future.
Ultimately, Larkin and the Red Wings have both played this situation very wrong, with recent speculation revealing that a reconciliation may be the best path forward for all parties involved, and given that two of his top four destinations are now not interested in him, it makes a trade in the next few months seem unlikely unless something dramatically changes.
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