The Dylan Larkin trade situation has now reached the point of ridiculous proportions. Had everything gone according to plan, he would have been traded by now.
But Larkin’s mess, one that cost Steve Yzerman his job, is his own doing. The fact that the move backfired on him has no other culprit but Larkin himself.
When Larkin made his trade request public, his three-team trade list was the worst thing that he could have done. In his mind, Larkin and his camp had backed the Red Wings into a corner. The Wings would have had no other choice but to grant him what he wanted, much like the Ottawa Senators did with Brady Tkachuk.
But there was a massive difference: the Panthers actually wanted Tkachuk. They didn’t want Larkin.
As for the Vegas Golden Knights, they couldn’t have acquired Larkin even if they wanted to. They had to re-sign Rasmus Andersson, and that cost them 30-goal scorer Pavel Dorofeyev. The Knights didn’t have the cap space or trade capital needed to land Larkin.
Then, there is the Minnesota Wild. The Wild are still rumored to be interested in Larkin. But the bottom line is that Bill Guerin isn’t going to pay through the nose for the 30-year-old. He has his hands full with Quinn Hughes. And until Guerin figures something out with Hughes, he can’t realistically make a pitch for Dylan Larkin.
So, what does that mean?
It means that Larkin’s trade list blew up so badly in his face that he’s stuck in limbo. No one wants him back in Detroit, and no one else really wants him elsewhere.
Larkin may just become the poster child for how trade requests can go massively wrong.
Dylan Larkin has burned plenty of bridges along the way
In an interesting article in The Athletic, Philadelphia Flyers insider Kevin Kurz discussed how Philly kicked the tires on Larkin. The club, much to its chagrin, was met with a resounding no.
So, you have to think that there were other clubs interested in Larkin, and those clubs met with the same fate.
At this point of the year, if Larkin suddenly decides to change his tune, how many of those teams would be willing to circle back to him?
And even if a club like the Flyers did circle back to Dylan Larkin, their offer would be nowhere near where their original pitch would have been.
The bottom line is that Larkin has burned so many bridges that he doesn’t realistically have a way out of Detroit. Yes, some other team may step up, but the Red Wings wouldn’t be foolish to take a couple of fifth-round picks.
In fact, Detroit might be better off having Larkin hold out than agreeing to a bad trade just to get him out the door.
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