Red Wings thriving without Dylan Larkin

When teams go through the type of teardown that the Red Wings have undergone, there tends to be a hyper-fixation on which timeline to build around. There is a debate between the young players you draft early in the teardown phase and the middle-aged players that are still talented but not good enough to get you across the finish line. 

There is an interesting dynamic playing out in real time as this Dylan Larkin saga hits a new low for the Detroit Red Wings organization. As of October 29, Dylan Larkin has decided he no longer wants to be a part of the organization and has elected to sit out until a trade materializes. Is this the culmination of the Red Wings' transition to the correct timeline they should have been on all along? 

Red Wings ready for changing of the guard

At one point, Dylan Larkin, Anthony Mantha, Filip Hronek and Tyler Bertuzzi formed the “core” of the Red Wings. Many in the Red Wings community believed that this group would be the leaders of a up-and-coming team that the Red Wings were building. The team traded 4 of those 5 players during the teardown for assets to advance the rebuild. The Dylan Larkin trade request signals the end of that era of Red Wings hockey. 

The comments after last week's game from the likes of Moritz Seider, Alex DeBrincat and Victor Arvidsson signal that the group is changing. Seider is coming into his own as a potential future captain for the Red Wings. Lucas Raymond has been wearing an “A” for this team for nearly three seasons. Those two are now the leaders of a young Red Wings team that has begun to move from the dark era of the Red Wings’ rebuild toward a new era led by its young draft picks. 

Even the play style has evolved

The expectation and play style of the Red Wings are vastly changing before our eyes. As Detroit’s young players have matured, we have seen a team that plays with a level of physicality and fight that has been missing in the past. Seider has regularly been near the top of the league in hits and blocked shots. When your best player embodies those qualities, they flow into the rest of the roster.

When Marco Kasper broke into the league, those were massive parts of his game along with the ability to be a pest in front of the net. Emmitt Finnie last year and Michael Brandsegg-Nygard this year are following suit. MBN had 11 hits the other night against the Edmonton Oilers, breaking a Red Wings record. Seider is setting the standard for young players and veterans, showing what it means to be a Detroit Red Wing. 

Victor Arvidsson is another great example of the standard Seider is setting. Yes, the points have come early for Arvidsson, but his overall game reflects this standard as well. Ray Ferraro called him “an absolute nightmare to play against”. He was alluding to the Finnie, DeBrincat, Arvidsson line because of how well that group skates and how hard and fast they play.

As unfortunate as this saga has become, this is exactly what the Detroit Red Wings need to reach their competitive window. Moving on from Larkin transitions this roster from an unsuccessful era into a fresh one. The once-promising young players are now thrust squarely into the spotlight as the leaders of the next era of Red Wings hockey.

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