Dylan Larkin ongoing trade stalemate has Detroit Red Wings in a bind

SEATTLE − The Detroit Red Wings are on their first big trip of the season, offering an opportunity for bonding.

That comes amid an ongoing situation with Dylan Larkin, whose trade request dating to the end of last season still stands. The team has done what it can to persuade him otherwise, to no avail.

There is a report from ESPN’s John Buccigross that a trade is imminent. Larkin’s agent, Pat Brisson, has steadfastly declined to comment on the situation, and interim general manager Shawn Horcofff has also made few comments other than to say the matter is between Larkin and the team. As for Larkin, when he met with reporters on Sept. 17, he wouldn’t say what triggered the request, nor would he say much of anything else on the matter other than that he never wanted it made public.

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Both sides may prefer to keep it internal, but it is, in fact, a very public matter. At the Wings’ last home game, on Oct. 17, fans were back to booing Larkin after that had subsided midway through his first appearance on Oct. 6. The booing on Oct. 17 came during a victory, too.

It hasn’t helped that Larkin, after producing a goal and an assist in his first game, has just one point, an assist, in five games entering the Wings’ outing against the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday, Oct. 20 (9:30 p.m., DSN). Larkin showed up at training camp with an upper-body injury that limited his ability to skate, but he’s been back for two weeks.

Larkin has the right to request being moved, and his no-trade clause also gives him say in where he goes. But the Wings also have the right to demand full value in return; all one needs is to look at the first two games of the season, when Larkin was unavailable, to see how much worse off they are without their top center. Other than the first half of the first period of the first game, the Wings largely played well in those two games, but they did not have the talent to score, producing just two goals in two games.

It is a very unideal situation to have a player in the lineup who wants out, but at the same time, the Wings would be undermining themselves if they give in and trade Larkin for anything less than a value-now player. To settle for prospects and picks would set back the team, unless such assets can be flipped right away for a top-six forward.

That’s the task confronting Horcoff, who was promoted to interim GM on Sept. 15, two days before camp. And he still also is under pressure to get restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson signed. Horcoff has said he has “zero interest” in trading Edvinsson, a 23-year-old defenseman who plays an important role as a top-four defender who can play in all situations.

Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. 

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Dylan Larkin ongoing trade stalemate has Detroit Red Wings in a bind