While their first opponent of the 2026-27 season will have played twice before suiting up at Little Caesars Arena, being one of the last teams to start at least affords the Detroit Red Wings more time to heal and tinker.
Dylan Larkin's availability for the opener on Friday, Oct. 2 against the New York Rangers remains uncertain as he recovers from an upper-body injury that so far sidelined him all preseason and has limited his role during practices. While he has skated with the team, Larkin has yet to be part of a regular line – and that's impacting how the Wings are sorting things out up front. So far, the only grouping that hasn't changed has Andrew Copp centering the top line with Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond.
"Those three I think will start,"
coach Todd McLellan said. "But Dylan is the wild card. We've got to figure out when and how much he can produce and go. But those three have been pretty consistent."
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The other lines have much more in flux. Marco Kasper started out centering the second line between Viktor Arvidsson and Emmitt Finnie, but in the latest iteration it was J.T. Compher in that spot, and Kasper was with Michael Rasmussen and Keegan Kolesar. Nate Danielson and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard have been paired up most of camp, early on with Carter Mazur but most recently with Mason Appleton, leaving Mazur as an extra.
"Ras, who, in my opinion, has had a real good training camp and exhibition season, has played with Kolesar," McLellan said. "We like that size. Kasper, Compher, has been in the middle there. Arvi and Finnie have been a pair that have basically been together for most of camp with different centers. And then the kids have played well. Danny and Brands, with whoever goes with them. Both App and Ras have had good training camps, and they needed to. They've done a good job."
A big issue is who will score the goals left on the table with the departures of Patrick Kane (16) and James van Riemsdyk (15), especially if Larkin (34) remains unavailable. DeBrincat (41 goals, 85 points) and Raymond (25 goals, 76 points) were the leading offensive players last season for the Wings, and to have them both on the same line would draw the attention of opponent's top shut-down defense pairing and line. In past seasons, Raymond and Larkin have been linemates, as have DeBrincat and Copp.
Asked if Larkin becoming available might lead to DeBrincat and Raymond on separate lines again, McLellan hedged.
"I can't even answer that yet," he said. "Like, I don't know when that's going to be. I don't know what it's going to look like. You know, we have plans. You know how that goes, right? It changes instantly. So just deal with what we have right now and what's in front of us."
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Why Dylan Larkin 'is the wild card' as Detroit Red Wings form lines
