What Changed For Red Wings Larkin?

Something changed to change Larkin’s mind. Had it already happened, and all that end-of-season talk was nothing more than a facade, performance art for the gathered media?

At this point, we don’t know, and perhaps we never will know, what the tipping point was for Larkin. We do know this – he was a different player when he came back to the Red Wings from winning a gold medal with the USA at the Winter Olympics.

Certainly, some of Larkin’s decline in performance during March and April was due to injury. You have to wonder, though. Did winning such a grand prize suddenly make Larkin long for the opportunity to do something similar as an NHLer?

Maybe it’s as simple as that. Larkin got a sample of what it was like to be part of a championship squad, and he liked the taste. Then, when the Wings went south into another tailspin, perhaps it was the final straw for his battered psyche.

Or it might be that more took place to sway Larkin into thinking that his time had come to make a run for it and exit Hockeytown. There were plenty of teammates on the American team who could get in his ear with tales of how they found the grass was greener once they got out of dodge.

Matthew Tkachuk jumped ship in Calgary and won two Stanley Cups in Florida. Jack Eichel escaped the train wreck that was the Buffalo Sabres. Moving to Vegas, he won a Cup with the Golden Knights and is currently seeking to add a second.

Quinn Hughes, who calls Larkin his mentor, abdicated from the captaincy in Vancouver. He is thriving with the Minnesota Wild – a team that, interestingly enough, is being strongly linked to Larkin trade rumors.

Did these American NHL stars convince Larkin to get out of Detroit while the getting is good? Again, we may never know the full story. But if you think hockey players don’t talk about stuff like that when they get together, then you’re pretty naive.

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