Dylan Larkin's cloudy future could create uncertainty for Alex DeBrincat, too

Detroit — Dylan Larkin’s decision to ask for a trade from the Red Wings doesn’t just impact Larkin and the organization. It likely will impact many of the players in the lineup.

Alex DeBrincat, in the short term, for sure.

The shockwaves continue to rattle from Larkin’s bombshell trade ask last week. Whether, and when, general manager Steve Yzerman does decide to deal Larkin is the question and likely won’t be easy, given Larkin reportedly has supplied a small list of teams, which makes creating a trade frenzy difficult.

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Larkin is a consistent 30-goal scorer, has evolved into one of the NHL’s better two-way centers, and is hungry to be part of a winning team. He’s not going to be easy to replace, regardless.

So, how will that affect DeBrincat, who led the Wings with 41 goals — the third time in his career he’s reached that total — and becomes one of the most important figures on this Wings roster, if and when there’s no Larkin on it?

It comes at a time, also, when DeBrincat, who had a career-high 85 points, can become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2027.

DeBrincat is earning $7.875 million this season and, given the rise of the NHL salary cap and his offensive production, and can expect a new contract north of $10 million per season. The price wouldn’t bother the Wings. But it likely will up to DeBrincat whether he wants to continue playing in his hometown.

The Farmington Hills native has made it quite clear he enjoys being home, after pressuring Ottawa into a trade to send him to the Wings in June 2023. He clearly enjoys playing in Detroit and said at his season-ending press conference in late April he’d like to remain here.

&#8220;Absolutely. I love it here,” DeBrincat said. “We’re still a little bit far away from even having those (contract) conversations, but this is my home. I’ve loved every bit of playing here.”

Changing the culture of the Wings is something DeBrincat would like to help accomplish going forward. It’s something the Wings’ veterans, like DeBrincat, have had some success instilling the past several years, but obviously the job isn’t complete.

“We’ve done a little bit of that, but there’s still work to do,” he said. “I feel like we can be a team that’s contending every year with the pieces we have and be a deadly team in the playoffs. Right now, we just got to focus on playing a full 82 games in the regular season and getting there.”

But will DeBrincat continue to feel that way? Especially with the uncertainty surrounding Larkin, how the lineup will look without Larkin, and whether the Wings will be in position soon to contend for a playoff spot — after having missed the playoffs the last 10 consecutive seasons.

Don’t forget this, either. DeBrincat has only made the playoffs one season, with Chicago, in the COVID-impacted 2020 season. Being a part of a playoff contender is important.

Then again, even in April weeks before the Larkin headlines, DeBrincat reiterated there was a business side of things. And especially now given Larkin’s situation, could the Wings possibly entertain trade proposals for DeBrincat, with his trade value likely near a peak?

“It’s a business, so we’ll see what they want to do,” DeBrincat said in April. “But I love it here, this is definitely a team I want to be a part of for a long time, and everyone knows that.”

DeBrincat felt this Wings team was capable of ending the playoff drought. Particularly the way the season was going for more than half the schedule, until injuries mounted and the Wings collapsed after the Olympic break.

The slide in the standings stung everyone.

“Frustration, honestly disbelief,” DeBrincat said of how the season ended. “From where we were, and are, it’s not acceptable. We’re embarrassed with the spot where we are. There are so many emotions, none of them good or none of them we want to recreate.

“We had ourselves in such a good spot and our play drops toward the end of the season. Now we’re talking to you rather than playing more games.

“All of us are frustrated and frankly, embarrassed is a good word for it. It’s kind of tough to do what we did.”

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Dylan Larkin’s future could create uncertainty for Alex DeBrincat