There are several mysteries surrounding the Dylan Larkin trade request. No one really knows for sure why Larkin asked out.
The most common narrative is that Larkin is a selfish player who took his $31 million and now seeks greener pastures. Yes, there’s certainly merit in applying Occam’s Razor here. But what if there was a more subtle explanation?
That’s what The Athletic’s Sean McIndoe has attempted to offer in a recent mailbag. The notable pundit delved into Larkin’s trade request by noting that the Red Wings captain (he still officially is) isn’t actually selfish.
He’s just not drinking the Kool-Aid anymore. In particular, McIndoe notes that Larkin knows he’s hardly an elite number-one center. He’s actually more like a good 2C on a deep team like the Colorado Avalanche. That’s why he’s realized his failure and is willing to accept his shortcomings by removing himself from the situation.
“He took a good hard look at the roster and reached the only logical conclusion: This team’s first-line center is an overrated bum. You can’t win that way, he knows it, and he doesn’t want to be a part of the futility of trying. Instead of calling him names, we should all be giving him credit for his steely-eyed realism.”
McIndoe’s description of Larkin as an “overrated bum” encapsulates what fans and experts have seen over the years. Just look at his role on Team USA. Sure, he had a couple of great moments. But he was the fourth-line center on an ultra-talented team. He was stuck behind Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel. Those were the guys that helped the US win gold (Jack Hughes had a hand in it, too).
It’s the realization that he’s not THE GUY makes you think that Larkin accepts his fate such as it is.
Fully acknowledging Larkin trade request would be admission of failure by Red Wings
There’s also another dimension to consider: Why did it take Steve Yzerman so long to acknowledge the trade request?
Instead of flat-out denying it like the Columbus Blue Jackets did with Zach Werenski, Yzerman hid in his office. The former Red Wings GM hoped that the problem would go away on its own. And even when Yzerman finally accepted that the request had happened, he had no answer for it.
The reason there is simple. It was an admission of failure. But it wasn’t just Yzerman’s failure as a GM. It was an organizational implosion. It was recognizing that the entire path the organization had taken for about a decade didn’t work. It was accepting that Larkin was a mistake, and by extension, the rest of the plan was a mistake.
That’s why we’re seeing silence from the organization as it seeks a new GM. It’s not that they're airtight and whatnot. It’s that the optics are so bad at this point that saying anything else is akin to self-incrimination.
The Red Wings might as well pled the Fifth Amendment and lawyer up before the season begins.
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