Detroit Red Wings should consider shutting Dylan Larkin down
By Bob Heyrman
The Detroit Red Wings points leader and undeniably best player Dylan Larkin has been sidelined over the last week and a bit with a neck strain. With less than a dozen games remaining in the season the team should consider shutting him down.
Dylan Larkin remains day-to-day in fact, he hopes to return to the lineup today for the Detroit Red Wings when they square off with the New York Islanders at Little Caesars Arena. He’s been hampered by a neck strain. The team even sent him out of town for a second opinion on the injury.
The Wings currently sit four points behind the Ottawa Senators good for last place in the league. The difference between last and second last is 5%. I mean if you finish last you receive an 18.5% chance of landing the first overall pick in the NHL Entry Level Draft. If you finish second last, your odds are set at 13.5%.
I would be thrilled to pick in either of the top two spots this season. I feel there is a significant gap between having the second and third pick. Of course, there will be extremely talented players throughout the draft and particularly in the first ten pick, but I feel these top two projected picks are franchise changers. I would love to land Hughes because he is a true center, and in my opinion, your championships are won down the middle, not off the wing.
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So what does this have to do with Dylan Larkin? Well, he’s currently the Detroit Red Wings franchise player, if he weren’t sidelined with an injury, he would have already eclipsed his career-high point total of 63 in which he set last season. He’s currently recorded 62 points to go along with his 27 goals.
I would like to see Larkin notch 30 goals on the season, and if he returns he will have an opportunity to accomplish that. No Detroit Red Wings player has reached 30 goals since 2009. In 09, four Wings eclipsed the mark, and Marian Hossa led the way with 40.
Larkin has taken great strides forward this year; he’s far and away the teams best player. He visually works hard every shift, and he’s displayed a passion to win every night. When things are not going well, he’s taken it upon himself to try and change the course of the game with a hit, a fight or a goal.
The Wings will not hold Larkin out of the lineup for tanking reasons. Although many people want to tank, it is just something the franchise will not do. They have a rich history, and I believe although management wants to be in a position to draft Jack Hughes or Kaapo Kakko, they will uphold the integrity of the game.
That being said, there is no reason to rush Larkin back to the lineup. At 22-years-old, I’m sure there is nothing more than the kid wants right now then to be on the ice today with his team. The Wings need to proceed with caution.
There is no reason to rush him back to the lineup and risk any type of re-injury. If I’m Detroit, I only allow him back into the lineup when he’s 100%, if he’s 95%, taking the current state of the team into consideration I leave him in the press box.
Larkin wouldn’t be fond of the decision, but when the end game is adding a franchise-changing talent, sometimes management needs to do what they’ve got to do to put themselves in the best position possible to acquire top talent.
Who should the Wings target in Free Agency?. dark. Next
It’s dark and gloomy right now, but we’ve seen the sun try and poke itself from the dense dark clouds and shine a ray of light here and there throughout the year on the Detroit Red Wings.