Dylan Larkin Standoff Is Starting to Cost the Red Wings

On the night the Detroit Red Wings suspended Dylan Larkin, they beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 and looked like a team ready to move on. Nine days later, the picture is very different.

Detroit has lost three straight games and scored just three goals in that stretch, capped by a 4-0 shutout loss in Colorado on Saturday. The club’s patience in the Larkin standoff was easy to defend when the results held up. Now that the offense has stalled, the cost of waiting is starting to show up in the standings.

How the Red Wings’ Offense Dried Up

The first few games without Larkin went well enough. Detroit beat Chicago, lost a 5-4 game to St. Louis, and then won 5-3 in Florida. That meant 13 goals in three games, and the room seemed to be handling the turmoil.

Since then, the goals have disappeared. The Red Wings scored twice in a 4-2 loss to Tampa Bay, once in a 2-1 loss to Vegas, and not at all against the Avalanche. They are 2-4-0 since the suspension and sit at 7-8-3, according to ESPN’s game recap.

Saturday’s loss showed both sides of the problem. Detroit outshot Colorado 13-5 in a scoreless first period, but couldn’t solve Mackenzie Blackwood, who finished with 27 saves for his first shutout of the season. The Red Wings then took five penalties in a 10-minute span of the second.

“First period was excellent. We did a lot of things we wanted to do,” head coach Todd McLellan said in the team’s game recap. “We had to overuse guys. Other guys sat there cold.”

Why the Slump Changes the Larkin Math

None of this means Dylan Larkin would have fixed every problem. He had two goals and six points in 10 games before he left the team, and Detroit’s struggles go beyond one player. But the slump does change how the standoff looks from the outside.

When we argued that the Red Wings had one card left to play, the suspension looked like pressure Detroit could hold for as long as it needed. That is still true for Larkin’s paycheck. It is less true for the team, which now has to win games while its former top center sits at home.

The front office knows a deal isn’t close. “But unfortunately, at this point, we’re not there yet,” interim general manager Shawn Horcoff said, as quoted in TSN’s coverage of the standoff on Nov. 4. Two more losses since then have made that wait harder to sit through.

What Detroit Needs Back for Dylan Larkin

The slump also sharpens what the return should look like. Horcoff would rather land players who can help now than a package of prospects, MLive reported (from ‘Red Wings remove Dylan Larkin banner from outside of LCA,’ MLive, Nov. 5, 2026). Three goals in three games only make that preference easier to defend.

That puts offers built mostly on picks and prospects in a tougher spot. We already argued that a Wild deal centered on Danila Yurov falls short, and that argument looks even stronger now. A deal built for 2028 would do little for a team trying to stay in the race this season.

There are internal options, too. Emmitt Finnie now centers the first line, a move we covered when we wrote that Detroit could already have a partial answer on its roster. Still, a 21-year-old can’t carry the scoring by himself, so any trade for the former captain should include at least one forward who helps right away.

Detroit’s Slump Shouldn’t Force a Bad Larkin Deal

There is a danger on the other side as well. A losing streak is exactly what rival general managers want to see, because it suggests Detroit might accept less. The Red Wings shouldn’t let three bad games push them into the kind of deal they have refused for weeks.

The contract still works in their favor. As we noted in our look at the hidden advantage in Larkin’s contract, the most expensive years of the deal are already paid. That gives Horcoff a solid reason to keep asking for real value, even while the team struggles.

The goaltending situation adds another layer. Daniil Tarasov has carried the load in net, making his fourth appearance in six days on Saturday, per the same team recap. A thin roster in net and a cold offense up front leave the club with very little margin for error.

Why the St. Louis and Florida Road Trip Matters

The schedule won’t make things easier. Saturday’s loss opened a 4-game road trip that continues Tuesday in St. Louis and ends against the two Florida teams.

That stretch could shape how Detroit approaches the market. If the Red Wings stabilize, Horcoff can keep waiting for the right package. If the slide continues, the pressure to land NHL-ready help in a Larkin deal will only grow.

Either way, the standoff is no longer just a question of who blinks first between the club and its former captain. The standings are now part of the negotiation, and they aren’t on Detroit’s side right now.