Why Did Dylan Larkin Request a Trade From the Red Wings? – The Hockey Writers –

The Detroit Red Wings fanbase is in absolute shock today as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that Dylan Larkin, Detroit’s captain and longest tenured player, has requested a trade from the team. This instantly changes what the Red Wings plans are for the rest of this offseason as well as for the next few seasons, and it makes Larkin the most eligible player on the trade market.

Dylan Larkin was drafted by Detroit 15th overall back in the 2014 Draft and quickly became the team’s most important player as they moved out of their contending window into the first of multiple rebuilds. Larkin is a life-long Michigander who played college hockey at the University of Michigan and was thrilled to join his childhood team in Detroit when he went pro.

So, what happened? How did we get to the point that a beloved franchise player who loves playing in his home state requests a trade away from Detroit?

No Playoffs For You

After being drafted in 2014, Larkin joined the Red Wings as a full time player at the start of the 2015-16 season, scoring 45 points, a total only surpassed by franchise legends Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk that year. The Red Wings made the playoffs that season, getting bumped by the Tampa Bay Lightning in just five games.

Thus concludes Larkin’s playoff experience.

In his 11 seasons in Detroit, Dylan Larkin has scored 643 regular season points (10th in franchise history) and played in 808 regular season games (17th in franchise history). How many players in Red Wings history have played more playoff games with the team than Larkin? Well, that would be 324.

The Red Wings have struggled to put together a competent team over many of the last 10 years in Detroit’s longest ever playoff drought, and Larkin is rightfully upset. Larkin is arguably a top-10 player in the history of the team and the team’s management hasn’t been able to build a playoff team around him even once.

Leadership Disputes

While Larkin has consistently been one of Detroit’s best players (as well as a standout contributor for Team USA at the 4-Nations Tournament and recent Olympics), the relationship between him and the team hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns. Indirect jabs at the team’s lack of preparedness, lack of production from top players, and issues with the leadership have come from both head coach Todd McLellan as well as general manager Steve Yzerman.

I don’t think it’s fair to put too much of the blame for Detroit’s lack of success on Larkin’s shoulders, but he was supposed to be the team’s leader and he certainly hasn’t been a game changer through Detroit’s recent March collapses.

So, to sum up the reasons he asked out so far: Larkin has spent over a decade of his career giving the Red Wings all he could in exchange for one protracted playoff run as a rookie and a bunch of questions regarding his character, leadership, and skill. Hmm. Anything else?

Seeking Greener Pastures

It’s tough not to look at other Atlantic Division teams like the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators who entered their rebuilds more recently than Detroit already emerging as playoff contenders. The Canadiens were in the Stanley Cup Final at the end of the 2020-21 season, bottomed out for two years, and have made the playoffs in each of the past two seasons already.

Larkin must be looking at all these teams leap-frogging the Red Wings (you can add the San Jose Sharks, Utah Mammoth, Anaheim Ducks, and Columbus Blue Jackets to the list), going through the NHL’s tanking to rebuilding to playoffs pipeline and he must be so frustrated to be on a team seemingly incapable of doing the same thing.

He is probably emboldened a bit by the recent swing towards player autonomy, with star players like Jack Eichel, Matthew Tkachuk, and Quinn Hughes all recently forcing their ways out of bad situations and finding success with their new franchises. High level players who want to push their way out and find a better team are able to do so now, and Larkin has a no-movement clause in his contract that allows him to pick and choose the exact teams he is willing to join.

Where Does Detroit Go From Here?

Obviously this is a dark day for the Red Wings franchise, one that encapsulates the utter failure of multiple management regimes and many players and head coaches. The Red Wings will need to trade Larkin before the 2026-27 season begins (and maybe before the 2026 Draft?), and that means they need to know their new direction as soon as possible.

Obviously, the most logical solution is to build the future of the team around Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond, but does that mean that Alex DeBrincat, the team’s best goalscorer in over a decade, is also on the outs? A trade for Larkin will likely net the Red Wings a massive haul of assets, but this trade must be done carefully in order to not force the franchise into another dark decade of rebuilding.