Dylan Larkin Might Still Be a Red Wing on Opening Night

In the weeks since Dylan Larkin’s trade request became a piece of public knowledge, we’ve seen a lot of change within the Red Wings’ organization. The team moved on from a top goaltending prospect in Sebastian Cossa, a promising depth contributor in Amadeus Lombardi, and finally they have unseated Steve Yzerman as the team’s general manager.

Aside from the Yzerman announcement last week, the team’s most important move, the likely trade of their captain and first line center, has yet to come to fruition. Let’s take a look at why that is, and why the team’s search for a new front office team could force Larkin to face the disgruntled fanbase on opening night of the 2026-27 season.

Fanbase Fury

Yzerman ran a notoriously tight ship in Detroit, with very few important decisions leaking to NHL insiders. Trades often came as surprises, and free agent signings were similar. It’s a mystery whether that was breached in Larkin’s situation simply because of the gravity of the moment or whether it was an intentional lapse to put pressure on Larkin and his camp to expand their list of trade destinations. 

Surely Larkin didn’t expect for his trade request to become public, and once it did, he likely assumed he would be traded quickly and could put the negative reaction of the fanbase behind him. However, his initial list of three teams that he so graciously expanded to four has proved itself far too limiting for the Red Wings to find an acceptable trade.

Red Wings fans have not taken well to the team’s captain asking out after another season of missing the playoffs. Brady Tkachuk did the same in Ottawa with the Senators, and was promptly shipped off to be with his brother in Florida. Zach Werenski looked to be headed down a similar path before apologizing to fans and saying he wants to stay in Columbus.

Here’s the thing, the majority of this rage has been pointed at Larkin, with a bit headed Yzerman’s way for failing the team on a grander level. With Yzerman out of the picture, Detroit’s next GM doesn’t have to deal Larkin immediately. Obviously that is the direction this is all headed, but the prospect of playing in front of such a hostile home crowd could certainly open Larkin’s mind to some new trade destinations.

Starting From Square One

While it’s a bit hyperbolic to say that the next general manager of the Red Wings is starting from square one in Larkin trade talks (they will have conversations with plenty of people in the front office privy to the conversations that have already taken place), it is fair to say that this is at least a bit of a reset point for Larkin and the Red Wings.

Without the established relationship between the two parties, it’s easy to see two distinctly opposed possibilities. One is that the new GM will be tasked primarily with winning a trade involving Larkin, though as mentioned above, the team isn’t likely to be too rushed in their decision there. The other possibility is that the team hopes the reset in the front office allows the team to run it back with Larkin in the fold for at least the start of the season, in the hopes of either winning him over with the team’s new direction or trading him mid-season.

Could Larkin Change His Mind?

Remember when Werenski told the Blue Jackets that he wouldn’t likely extend with them, saw the negative reaction of the fans and then said “sorry about that, maybe I’ll stay,” and then the team swept it under the rug? I do think that Larkin has missed that window big-time, with Werenski’s news and apology coming in quick succession, but that doesn’t mean his camp would be above trying it.

The gap between the news breaking about Larkin’s trade request and his next meeting with the media is approaching two full months already and there’s no sign of that stopping short of a trade or Larkin’s attendance at training camp in September. There’s a chance that some of the difficult emotions of another disappointing regular season have waned and Larkin could become open to sticking around in Detroit for a little bit longer. 

However, I think he’s missed his chance to regain favor with the fanbase and I think he’d be quite wary of returning to the Little Caesars Arena to raining boos from his hometown fans. If Larkin did change his mind and decide to stay, then his no-movement clause will perform its intended function and keep him in Hockey Town for a handful of more years. 

The Writing is On the Wall

While there are a few scenarios in which Larkin plays for Detroit in the Fall (the most likely being one in which he plays until possible trade suitors become desperate enough for Detroit to land a valuable trade in return), it does indeed seem as though the writing is on the wall and Larkin’s time as a Red Wing has come to an end.

Many fans feel burned by the team’s captain turning his back on the team and putting them in a really tough spot, and I’m not sure it will soften over time all that much as it did with Sergei Fedorov. At least Fedorov had left the fans with a few Stanley Cup banners. Larkin’s tenure in Detroit began with so much promise, but appears to be fizzling out before the Red Wings ever really built a meaningfully good team around him, a failure much larger than a single player.