When news today broke out about Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman stepping down, everyone had the same first thought:
"Does this mean Dylan Larkin is coming back?"
It makes sense. After all, Larkin's issues with then-general manager Yzerman stem back to as early as three years ago, when Larkin signed an eight-year contract and became the highest-paid player in the organization. With the source of the issue gone, why wouldn't Larkin choose to return to his hometown team?
When you burn a bridge, you can't cross it again.
Larkin's tarnished legacy in Hockeytown
It would be one thing if Larkin had requested a trade and tried working with Yzerman and the Red Wings. Unfortunately, he chose a much more stubborn route, demanding that the team acquiesce to his meager three (four?) team trade list. To top this off, his camp refused any lines of communication with the fanbase. Neither Larkin or his agent held a press conference or tried to explain the rationale behidn their request.
Instead, fans and media alike were met with deafening radio silence.
Three collapses in March, two 5v5 points in 2026 and one trade request is Larkin's legacy. Unlike captains of the past like Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom and Steve Yzerman, Larkin never had a team full of Hall of Fame-caliber talent around him. But, when times got tough in Yzerman's early career, the captain never requested a trade. He never offered a short list of Cup contenders he'd prefer to play for.
Anyone that thinks Larkin comes back to the Red Wings from this is misguided at best -- or believes something extremely unlikely could happen.
New general manager has a lot of ground to cover
Once the new general manager takes over, they will have the following tasks to accomplish:
- Trade Dylan Larkin
- Extend Simon Edvinsson
- Extend (or trade) Alex DeBrincat
- Figure out the direction of the team moving forward
That's a lot of ground to cover in a short period of time. As long as the offseason can feel at times, the fact of the matter is that the Red Wings have to accomplish all these tasks and find a new general manager in about two months' time.
Whether Larkin expands his list now or not depends entirely on how Yzerman-specific this rift is. If it mostly revolves around Yzerman, it's safe to assume the list will expand and a better deal can be reached. If not, however, there's a strong chance the return is underwhelming at best.
It's entirely possible that Yzerman and owner Chris Illitch were at an impasse. Yzerman was willing to wait for the right deal, while Illitch simply wanted it done.
In the words of Natasha Bedingfield, the rest is still unwritten.
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