For 11 years, the Detroit Red Wings have had one job: to build a consistent playoff team aroundDylan Larkin. And for more than a decade, the organization failed to do so.
Everyone has been in a relationship — be it with a partner, a friend, or a colleague — where they felt they gave it their all, and it just wasn't good enough. We aren't mind readers here at Octopus Thrower, and Larkin hasn't made any public comments about his seismic trade request yet, but it feels safe to assume he feels at least a little like that. How couldn't he?
This has been characterized as a divorce for a reason. It isn't as simple as Darnell Nurse asking out of Edmonton or how things played out between Quinn Hughes and Vancouver. This is a literal homegrown player asking out of the team he grew up wanting to play for. Larkin was raised about 45 minutes away from downtown Detroit, and eventually became the first Michigan-born captain in team history. And now he wants out. To take off for a sunbelt team (or Minnesota) where he may finally see playoff action again.
As he does so, Red Wings fans would be doing themselves a favor by handling Larkin's exit with grace.
Dylan Larkin gave the Red Wings everything he had for 11 years
Larkin made the Red Wings as a 19-year-old and never looked back. Detroit has never been an organization keen on breaking in younger players at the NHL level, yet the 15th-overall pick made it impossible to send him back to Grand Rapids.
He quickly became a fixture on the Red Wings' top line, and he's remained there ever since. Larkin has evolved into an excellent two-way pivot who can also post 30 or more goals every year. Players like him are rare. Rarer still are the ones who seem to bleed the same colors as his team--never mind that blood is actually red.
It was always a forgone conclusion that Larkin would play out his career wearing the Winged Wheel, and perhaps that's where the organization truly messed this relationship up. By simply assuming he'd be there, year in and year out, waiting for them to get their ish together.
That never happened, though. The Red Wings haven't made a better draft pick than Larkin since 2015, save for maybe Moritz Seider. Whiff after whiff in free agency, compounded by poor pro scouting, has Detroit stuck in the mushy middle, getting passed by teams like the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres.
Larkin has handled Detroit's constant losing with dignity, Red Wings should handle losing him similarly
For the last decade, one person has repeatedly been asked to explain why the Red Wings can't seem to figure it out enough to get back to the playoffs. Four coaches have come and gone during Larkin's time in Detroit, while the general managers get to hide up in the rafters like WCW era Sting, only speaking to the media two or three times a year.
Larkin was the man tasked with facing these tough questions after every brutal March loss. During locker cleanout day after another missed postseason. During training camp, when reporters rightfully were wondering if this year was actually going to be different.
With one leaked trade request, Larkin made his answer to that question very clear. No, next season isn't going to be any different, and I don't want to stick around to experience the perpetual losing and the darkness that comes with it anymore. One could argue that the 29-year-old should quietly play out the contract he knowingly signed, but one could also argue that the Red Wings haven't done all they can to build a winner around their No. 1 center. Relationships are a two-way street, after all, and the Red Wings have taken more from Larkin than they have given him.
The reality is that we only know a fraction of a fraction of this whole story. Maybe Larkin will go on a podcast in six or seven years, and fans will really know what event or events actually pushed him to this moment. Right now, though, his motivations seem pretty clear: get to a winner, because Detroit has clearly forgotten how to be one, and try to win a Stanley Cup before his playing days are over.
Fans can now choose whether to behave like the entitled ex who doesn't want to see their former partner move on to better things, or they can be appreciative of the time that they got to spend together. It's your call, Detroit. Make the right one.
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