Going into this season, some fans were skeptical about Dylan Larkin and his decline in play over the last couple of seasons. Fast forward to this season and Larkin seems like a man on a mission. He has been without question, the MVP of this version of the Detroit Red Wings.
Larkin looks rejuvinated on a line with super-rookie Lucas Raymond. The duo compliment each other to a point where it really doesn’t matter who plays left wing, the line seems to create scoring chances on literally every shift.
Larkin and Raymond started the season with Tyler Bertuzzi. Vitually every night, the line competed hard against the other top lines in the league. The problem was that the Larkin line could not carry the team every night. Bertuzzi was moved onto ‘The Guelph Line’ with Pius Suter and Robby Fabbri. This change created two scoring lines and depth that has been missing for several years.
This didn’t take anything away from the dynamic duo of Larkin and Raymond. As a matter of fact, Larkin has turned a really good season into an outstanding one.
In the second half of the season, Larkin and Raymond have played with Vladislav Namesnikov and Filip Zadina. The #1 line continues to thrive especially in OT when it’s 3-on-3.
https://twitter.com/DetroitRedWings/status/1499182011365441543?s=20&t=rT-XhXCQEFmTXNG-3ELz3Q
Larkin is currently on a 10 game point streak where he has scored seven goals and 11 assists for 18 points. For the season, Larkin leads the Red Wings in scoring by a large margin. In 49 games, Larkin has scored 27 goals, 29 assists, and 56 points. If Larkin continues at this pace, he is on track to scored a career high of 42 goals and 88 points.
Larkin wears the “C” with pride. He grew up living and playing in the Detroit area and would love nothing more than to play his entire career in his hometown. He currently has one season left on his $6.1M annually cap hit before he becomes an UFA.
General Manager Steve Yzerman will likely sit down with Larkin after the season in order to iron out an extension that is good for both parties. I believe that Larkin will sign a 5-year contract for $40M, with an annual cap hit of $8M.
If Larkin signs an extension for five years, he will be 31 the next time it expires. This will give management a fair amount of time to build a playoff caliber team and hopefully keep Larkin in Detroit for the remainder of his career.