Disgruntled Detroit Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin has expanded his list of desired trade destinations, but really, there've always been options beyond his menu.
A person within the NHL – granted anonymity because they are unauthorized to speak publicly - confirmed to the Free Press over the weekend that in addition to the Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights, Larkin's list now also includes the Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars (the Wings already have talked to that organization, who's GM, Jim Nill, has long and deep ties to the Wings) as well as the Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals. Basically, U.S.-based teams poised to contend for the Stanley Cup.
As the Wings finalize preparations for their 2026-27 season opener
against the NY Rangers on Friday, Oct. 2 (6:30 p.m., TNT/truTV), Larkin's trade request remains in play, even as a reconciliation continues to make the most sense.
Larkin has wanted out since shortly after the 2025-26 season ended, requesting a trade after 11 seasons with his hometown NHL franchise, of which he was captain from January 2021 until this summer, when he was stripped of the "C."
Larkin has a no-trade clause in effect through 2027-28, after which it becomes a modified no-trade clause. That gives him a say in where he lands. But it does not, and has not, prevented any NHL team from calling the Wings and proposing a trade, which, should the Wings like the offer, they could then take to Larkin's camp. The Utah Mammoth were interested, for example, but their offer wasn't close to what the Wings want in return for one of their top assets.
Shawn Horcoff – whose agent in his playing days, Pat Brisson, is the same agent who represents Larkin – was named interim general manager on Sept. 15, two months to the day Steve Yzerman was removed from the GM role he had held for seven-plus years and instead made a senior advisor.
At his introductory press conference, Horcoff said he has full control to make player personnel decisions, but whether it was Yzerman or Horcoff, any trade involving Larkin was always going to go through Wings owner and governor Christopher Ilitch. No NHL owner finds out a star player has been traded from their team by seeing an alert on their mobile phone. So even during that two-month lull between Yzerman's departure and elevating Horcoff in interim fashion (though he had been running the daily show anyway), a Larkin trade could have happened, had there been an acceptable offer.
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But that's where it bears reiterating what Yzerman said when he addressed the situation in late June, after the draft: "Dylan has five years remaining on his contract. My job as the manager of the Detroit Red Wings is always to do what is in the best interest of the Detroit Red Wings and I will act accordingly to that. I cannot make any guarantees or did not make any guarantees that that request could or would be met."
Set aside personal feelings about Larkin's request and what it does to his reputation – and how he may be greeted by fans when he next takes the ice at Little Caesars Arena (he's been nursing an upper-body injury and missed all four exhibition games) – and look at the business side of it. Larkin is 30 years old, in the prime of his career. He's a consistent 30-goal scorer. He is the Wings' top center, a position at which they are thin on the depth chart. He has five years left on a contract carrying an $8.7 million annual average value. Then there's his actual salary: The deal Larkin signed on March 1, 2023, was heavily front-loaded. Worth $69.6 million over eight years, he has already collected $31 million, having made, respectively, $10 million, $11 million and $10 million over the past three seasons. He makes $8 million in each of the next three seasons, then $7.6 million and $7 million. In every respect, that's an incredibly favorable contract, especially in light of a summer that has seen player salaries skyrocket and a generally rising NHL salary cap.
Hence the emphasis on getting value-now players in return, of which one really needs to be a top-six center. Without Larkin, the Wings' center lineup on Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the preseason finale – a lineup in which the Wings used every NHL player on their roster available – read Andrew Copp, Marco Kasper, Nate Danielson and J.T. Compher.
Larkin's trade request has been in effect now for five months. At any time, any NHL team could have called to inquire, to see if a deal could be made, regardless of any list from Larkin.
But the bottom line remains: Unless a team makes an offer involving a player just like Larkin, the Wings are best served by having him in their lineup.
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com.
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For openers: Rangers
Matchup: Red Wings (41-31-10, 92 points in 2025-26) vs. NY Rangers (34-39-9, 77 points in 2025-26); regular-season opener.
Faceoff: 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2; Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.
TV/radio: TNT, truTV; WXYT-FM (97.1).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What we're hearing on Dylan Larkin, Red Wings as 2026-27 season nears
