OFFICIAL: Dylan Larkin Trade Request Megathread

I am physically sick. THE CAPTAIN. our captain. i have his name on TWO of my jerseys. ten years of his prime down the drain and now he's done with us. i can't believe i'm reading this

10 years and counting. and now the captain wants out. honestly who can blame him. the only surprising part is it took this long.

Per Friedman on the 32 Thoughts feed: the request came in AFTER the season ended, this isn't an in-season leak. He framed it as Larkin being respectful about it, not a public demand. Reading between the lines, Larkin gave Yzerman a heads up rather than blindsiding the org. That matters for how this plays out. More to come, I'm sure.

Let's get the numbers straight before the panic sets in:

- Larkin: $8.7M AAV x 5 years remaining, full NMC

- That's $43.5M of term you're moving

- The NMC means HE controls this. Three teams on the list (FLA/MIN/VGS) and that's it for now

Moving an 8.7 cap hit 1C in his prime is not a salary dump, it's a franchise asset. If Yzerman gets fleeced on this it's because he panicked, not because the contract is bad. The contract is GOOD.

ok i'll start. SPECULATION obviously.

Wings get: Brock Faber, 2026 1st (MIN)

Wild get: Dylan Larkin

minnesota gets their 1C they've needed forever, we get a stud young RHD to pair next to Seider for a decade. tell me that's not a home run

Tim, Minnesota is not trading Faber straight up for a 30-year-old center on an 8.7 deal. He's a top-pair RHD on an entry-level-adjacent cap hit. That's a no from them in two seconds.

That said, the framework is right: Minnesota is genuinely the best fit on the list. They have prospect capital (Yurov, Stramel) and multiple future 1sts to dangle. If I'm Yzerman I'm steering this toward Minnesota and asking for picks plus a high-upside young scorer, not a finished defenseman.

A captain asking out. In my day you'd have your C stripped and your name spat on. Yzerman bled for that sweater with a torn everything. These guys want to bail the second it gets hard.

I'll say what nobody wants to hear: ten years, zero playoff games, and he's watched two GMs and three coaches come and go around him. The man is 30. If you're an elite competitor and ownership keeps telling you 'next year' for a DECADE, at some point you stop believing them. This isn't a Diva thing. It's a clock thing.

Pam I hear you and I don't fully disagree. But Yzerman played 22 years for one logo and dragged a bad team to good before it was great. Lidstrom never blinked. There IS a standard here and 'I'm tired of losing' was never an excuse a Red Wing captain got to use. I'm not crucifying the kid but don't sell me that asking out is somehow noble.

everyone calm down for one second. the part NOBODY is saying out loud: if Larkin goes, who is the most likely guy to want out NEXT? please do not let this turn into a fire sale that scares off the actual core

RT relax, nobody's moving Mo or Raymond. Different conversation entirely, those guys are 24 and signed and the future. Larkin asked out, they didn't.

throwing a stuffed octopus at my tv rn. the captain. man. lgrw i guess 😭

Reminder before everyone loses their minds: Stevie does not panic and he does not cave. Look at the Walman move, look at how he played the Faulk deal, look at how he sat on his hands when every fan wanted him to overpay in free agency. He has a full NMC working against him and he STILL won't get rushed. Whoever wants Larkin is going to pay the Detroit price or wait. Trust the track record.

great so we trade our best player AND we already gave away the first rounder. cant wait to pick 18th with a roster full of two way wingers. pingpong balls are the only thing this org has consistently mismanaged

I've been in that building for the last ten years. Snow, ice storms, blowout losses in March with nothing to play for, I was THERE. And the one constant was 71 leaving everything on the ice every single night. If this is really the end I just want him to get a chance to win somewhere. I'll cry but I'll mean it. Thank you Dylan.

From a roster construction view, losing Larkin guts our defensive structure more than people think. He takes the toughest D-zone draws, kills penalties, drives the breakout from a low position. You don't just replace 1C minutes, you replace the most reliable two-way center we've had in a decade. The hole is bigger than 30 goals.

Marco can absolutely take a step into bigger minutes if this happens. Everyone wrote him off after a slow stretch but he's exactly the kind of young center who grows into a role like this. Not saying he's Larkin tomorrow. Saying don't act like the cupboard is bare.

Scotty there's no recapture, that's a front-loaded long-term-deal thing and Larkin's is flat. The cap angle that actually matters: moving 8.7 clean opens a TON of flexibility this summer and next. If the return is term-friendly (ELCs, picks, an RFA) you suddenly have room to be a player in free agency for the first time in years. Not defending the situation, just noting it's not all downside.

Take a breath, kids. I've watched this team trade away names that hurt a lot more than this, and I've watched it bottom out worse than this. The sky was falling in the Dead Things years too and then it wasn't. Larkin's a good player and a good kid who's tired. That's allowed. Let Stevie do his job and quit writing the obituary on night one.

Morning aggregation for those just waking up. Where it stands as of 6/5:

- Friedman: Larkin requested the trade, request is post-season, framed as respectful

- Term: 5 yrs / $8.7M / full NMC

- Approved list believed to be FLA, MIN, VGS

- No timeline, no indication Detroit is shopping aggressively

My read: this is a 'manage the return' situation, not a 'rip the bandaid' situation. There's no pressure to do it before the draft unless a monster offer shows up.

This is the right framing. Two templates everyone should keep in mind:

1. Matt Duchene (COL to OTT) - Colorado was patient, started a three-team deal, and turned a disgruntled star into a haul of picks and pieces. Patience paid.

2. Ryan O'Reilly (BUF to STL) - Buffalo got a strong return AND O'Reilly won a Cup, everybody walked away okay.

The lesson from both: don't trade him to talk him out of it, trade him to maximize. The leverage isn't gone just because he asked.

the Duchene comp is cute but Colorado had Mackinnon and Rantanen waiting. who exactly is our consolation prize. the dream of trading the captain and getting better is a special kind of cope

Doug, fair pushback, but the point of the O'Reilly comp specifically is Buffalo wasn't a contender either and still got a real return (Tage Thompson became a 40-goal guy out of that deal). You don't need a Mackinnon in house. You need a GM who doesn't blink and a market with multiple bidders. We have the second one. The first is the open question.

ok learned my lesson, here's a REAL one. SPECULATION.

Wings get: Danila Yurov, Marat Khusnutdinov, 2027 1st (MIN)

Wild get: Dylan Larkin

yurov is a top-6 scoring winger waiting to happen, khusnutdinov gives us center depth, and the 1st replenishes the pick we lost. THIS is the Duchene model. picks + young upside.

Now THAT's a framework I can get behind. Yurov is the centerpiece I'd be hunting. KHL pedigree, high-end skill, and he'd slot in as a scorer which is exactly what this org has been starving for. If you can pry Yurov plus a 1st plus a depth center out of Minnesota you do that deal and you sleep great. Add Stramel instead of Khusnutdinov and I'm sprinting to the fax machine.

Yurov's upside is a legit middle-six scorer, maybe more, good floor too. Stramel's a big center with a longer runway, more boom-or-bust. If I'm prioritizing I want Yurov + a 1st in 2027 AND 2028. Two firsts is the number. Don't let anyone tell you a disgruntled-star return tops out at one pick, the Duchene return was THREE first-rounders across the deal.

Once a guy asks out he's gone in his head. You can't un-ring that bell. Trade him before he stinks up the room.

if any return doesn't include a young RHD or at minimum a high pick to draft one i'm out. Eddy on the left is going to be a Norris guy and we need someone to grow next to him. don't bring me back another reclamation middle six winger.

Whatever the return, McLellan's deployment has to change or we're just swapping bodies. We ran Larkin into the ground as the only trusted center against top comp. If you trade him and ask Kasper to absorb those same matchup minutes with no structural support, you'll bury the kid. The systems problem doesn't leave with 71.

Ted Lindsay started the players' association and ownership shipped him to Chicago for the trouble. Even the loyal ones don't always get to write their own ending in this town. There's a sad kind of history rhyming here. I hope the kid gets his Cup, wherever it is. We owed him better than ten lost years.

Ten years of patience from us, and he ran out of his first.

i've played beer league with guys who 'requested a trade' to the other rec team because they were sick of losing. it's human. you skate your guts out for a decade and never sniff the playoffs, eventually you want one good run before the knees go. i don't love it but i get it.

slept on it and i'm even more upset. people calling him a diva can FIGHT ME. 30 goals, captain, never once dogged it, never once trashed the org publicly even when he had every right. show me the diva. i'll wait.

@HockeytownHank by that logic the captain has to martyr himself forever no matter how badly the team around him is run? that's not leadership, that's hostage-taking. he's allowed to want a future. the C is a sweater patch, not a prison sentence.

Mod note: we've merged four duplicate threads into here this morning and removed a couple of posts calling Larkin slurs. Disagree all you want, the 'Diva Dylan' nickname is fine as a take, the personal stuff is not. Keep it about the hockey. Carry on.

calling it now: this drags into August, the only real offer is picks, and we end up keeping a checked-out captain for a full season because Yzerman won't take 80 cents on the dollar. worst of both worlds incoming.

if patience only nets us an extra third round pick over what's on the table today, just rip the bandaid off and let the man go win somewhere. i'm not torturing everyone for three months to upgrade a 3rd to a 3rd and a prospect who'll be in the KHL by 26.

Larry that's the actual debate in a nutshell and it's a real one. Patience only makes sense if the delta is meaningful:

- If waiting turns a 1st + B-prospect into TWO 1sts + an A-prospect, you wait every time

- If waiting turns it into a 1st + a 3rd, you're right, rip it off

The leverage question is whether a 4th or 5th team can be added to the list. Three suitors is a soft market. Yzerman's whole play here is expanding that list.

from a farm POV, the dream return is a guy who can play in Grand Rapids next year and force his way up. Yurov type. We've got Kasper, we've got bodies, what we don't have is a high-end forward prospect who screams future top-line scorer. Target THAT. Not another finished 28 year old.

i keep seeing dark posts in here like 'Seider and Raymond will want out next.' STOP MANIFESTING IT. they are signed, they are young, they LIKE it here, and posting it 40 times doesn't make it true. one captain asked out. ONE. don't talk our actual cornerstones into the same headspace.

I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere lol. but Doug isn't entirely wrong that the org has a clock. the way you keep your young guys is by USING the Larkin return to actually get better, not by stockpiling more lottery tickets. win with the haul and nobody else asks out.

UPDATE (6/10). Pierre LeBrun on TSN/The Athletic and Ted Kulfan in the Detroit News both reporting today: Yzerman has asked Larkin's agent Pat Brisson to EXPAND the no-trade list. Talks described as 'respectful' and the Wings are 'in no hurry.' Names being speculated as possible additions: Dallas, Tampa, Utah, Anaheim, LA, with some Rangers/Islanders chatter too. Caveat: most of those are speculation, not confirmed adds. But this is exactly the leverage play Carl called.

Called it. THIS is the track record. He's not selling into a three-team market, he's widening it until a real bidding war breaks out. 'In no hurry' is the most Yzerman phrase in the English language. The longer this takes the better the return gets. Patience.

Expanding the list changes everything for the return math. Run the bidders:

- Dallas: center-needy on paper but their down-the-middle depth is already heavy, awkward fit

- Tampa: cap-strapped, would need to shed to fit 8.7, hard

- Utah: cap space + picks, intriguing dark horse

- Anaheim/LA: both have prospect capital, LA always wants a 2C

- Rangers/Isles: NY market drama, picks-light

More suitors = the Minnesota/Vegas offers go UP just from competition. This is leverage 101.

VEGAS SPECULATION since they're on the original list:

Wings get: Pavel Dorofeyev, 2026 1st, 2028 1st (VGS)

Golden Knights get: Dylan Larkin

vegas is always all-in and always overpays. dorofeyev is a 30 goal scorer on a cheap deal, exactly the SCORING we've been begging for, plus two firsts. if Foley wants to win now make him bleed.

FINALLY someone's talking about getting SCORING back. Dorofeyev is exactly the type. i'm so tired of the 'two way responsible middle six' crowd. we've had ten years of responsible. responsible misses the playoffs. GIVE ME GOALS.

Co-sign the scoring priority. We finished bottom third in 5v5 goals for and bottom ten in high-danger chances generated. The actual roster need is finishing talent, not more committed backchecking forwards. Any Larkin return that comes back as 'more two-way bullshit' (Deke's words, accurate) is a process failure. Target shooters and shot volume. Dorofeyev or Yurov both check that box.

One thing nobody's flagged about expanding the list: every team Brisson agrees to add tells you something about where LARKIN wants to land. If Dallas and Tampa go on, he's prioritizing a contender. If Utah goes on, money/role matters to him. The list IS the tell. Watch which names he allows, not just which teams call.

@ContractCrunch this is the smartest thing posted in six days. the approved list is basically Dylan's wishlist for the rest of his career, written in code. if he adds Tampa and Florida he's flat out saying 'i want to win a Cup before i'm done.' you can't really be mad at the man for that.

Quiet few days on actual news, so a ranking of the realistic returns by my board:

1. Minnesota: Yurov + 2027 1st + 2028 1st (best blend of upside and capital)

2. Vegas: Dorofeyev + 1st (most NHL-ready scoring, fewer picks)

3. Florida: TBD but they're cap-strapped, return would be pick-heavy

4. Field (Utah/LA/Anaheim): wildcards, depends who gets added

Minnesota is the prize. Don't let a shiny win-now Vegas name distract from two firsts.

UPDATE (6/15). The Dallas angle is cooling. The chatter was a Jason Robertson-for-Larkin framework and per the reporting it just doesn't fit Dallas's center depth, they're loaded down the middle and don't want to add another 8.7 pivot. So scratch the Robertson dream. Doesn't mean Dallas is fully out, but the headline package everyone was mocking is dead. Back to Minnesota and Vegas as the front-runners.

RIP the Robertson dream, that was the white whale. honestly knew it was too clean. a 30 goal scoring winger on a great contract for a center they don't need was never gonna happen, dallas isn't dumb. ok scrapping that mock. back to the Minnesota lab.

robertson would've been PERFECT and that's exactly why it'll never happen to us lol. while we're dreaming though, real talk: if we're tearing it down anyway, do we listen on Cat too? he's a pure scorer with value, sell high and stack even more for the rebuild? i hate typing it.

Deke, careful, that's the teardown creep talking. There's a difference between trading a 30-year-old who asked out and dismantling the whole forward group on a vibe. If you move Larkin AND DeBrincat you're not retooling, you're starting a fourth rebuild in fifteen years. One disgruntled captain doesn't mean burn the house down. Let's keep the panic contained to the actual situation.

counterpoint: maybe a fourth rebuild that's actually done correctly beats fifteen years of half-measures. if you're moving the captain you've already admitted it's a teardown. at least be honest about it and get the picks. sell deck and the whole thing.

Larry, son, I've lived through 'tear it ALL down and do it right' three times now and it always comes with five more years of pain attached. Trade the man who wants to go, get a real return, and build AROUND Seider, Raymond, Edvinsson. You don't have to detonate to retool. Easy with the matches.

BREAKING (6/16). Friedman just dropped it: 'FLORIDA HAS MADE AN OFFER.' The package being floated, and he was clear part of this is his own speculation on the construction, is the Panthers' No. 9 overall pick plus forward Anton Lundell. He stressed it's groundwork, NOT a done deal, talks are early. But this is the first concrete OFFER we've heard about in the whole saga. Florida's officially in the room.

Let's evaluate the Florida package on merit, not vibes. Anton Lundell is a legitimately good two-way center, 24, signed, plays huge defensive minutes for a Cup team. The No. 9 pick is real value, top-ten talent. BUT, and I cannot stress this enough, Lundell is a 35-45 point defensive center. That is LITERALLY 'more two-way bullshit.' If we trade our 1C for another responsible-but-low-event center plus a pick, we have not solved the scoring problem. The pick is the prize, not Lundell.

ANNIE GETS IT. we are NOT trading the captain for a 35 point defensive center are we serious. the number nine pick is nice but lundell is the exact archetype that got us into this mess. florida offering us their version of OUR problem and calling it a gift. hard pass unless it's the pick plus a SCORER.

9th overall in this draft is a really nice chip, there's legit top-line skill in that range. If I'm Yzerman I take Florida's 9 + Lundell and ask them to swap Lundell for a younger, higher-upside winger prospect, OR I take it to Minnesota and say 'beat 9th overall + a roster center.' Either way Florida just set a real market price. The phantom-offer stage is over. This is the floor now.

OK FLORIDA IS REAL so here's the counter i'd want. SPECULATION.

Wings get: 2026 1st (No. 9 overall), Anton Lundell, Mackie Samoskevich (FLA)

Panthers get: Dylan Larkin

give them the cap relief and the proven 1c, we take the pick, the center, AND a young scoring winger. if they say no, fine, we just made minnesota's offer look small. either way we win.

Tim now you're cooking. The 9th pick alone reshapes our pipeline overnight, it's the highest selection we'd have had in this org in years thanks to that lost first. Add a young winger like Samoskevich and the future forward group looks completely different. THIS is the version of trading the captain that I can live with. Picks plus youth plus a draft chip. Not a lateral move for a checking center.

seeing 'florida has made an offer' in writing made it real in a way the last twelve days didn't. he's actually leaving. the captain is going to a CUP team and we're going to get a draft pick and a 22 year old i'll have to google. i need a minute. okay. okay. for the haul, fine. but ow.

of course it's Florida. sunshine, no state tax, a Cup window, and his Olympic boys. if you're Dylan Larkin and you've spent ten years freezing in a rebuild, the Panthers are the literal opposite of everything you've endured here. honestly the most Dylan-coded destination imaginable. i'm not even mad. okay i'm a little mad.

If the price is 9th overall and real pieces, that's a fair return for a player who told you he wants out. I won't pretend it doesn't sting to watch a Wings captain chase a Cup in Florida sunshine. But Yzerman waited out the soft market, got Florida to make a real offer, and now has Minnesota to play against it. That's the job done right. Credit where it's due.

Two weeks ago this board was screaming that Stevie would panic-dump him for a bag of pucks. Instead: he expanded the list, waited out the market, and now there's a No. 9 overall pick on the table with Minnesota's two-firsts lurking behind it. THE PLAN, as always, was patience. Whatever the final deal is, he didn't get rushed and he didn't get robbed. Trust earned again.

whatever happens i just hope when 71 comes back to the Joe... the LCA i mean, old habits... we give him the tribute video and the standing O he EARNED. ten years, every night, never dogged it. boo the trade request all you want, cheer the man. he deserves that much.

Mod wrap-up for now, this thread's been heavy traffic and mostly civil, thank you all. State of play heading into the weekend: request confirmed (Friedman, 6/4), list expanded (LeBrun/Kulfan, 6/10), Dallas/Robertson cooled (6/15), Florida made an offer of the No. 9 + Lundell (Friedman, 6/16, partly his own speculation, NOT done). Nothing's official. Keep the mocks labeled and the personal stuff out. We'll keep it all right here when the deal lands. Lou's pinning this up top.

I think some are underestimating the impact of waiting out the market and expanding Larkin's list - it allowed Yzerman to leverage Stevie's patience into a potentially more favorable trade situation. Beating out Dallas for Robertson was a big win, don't count that as small potatoes. The real test will be what we get in return, though.

i love how DefensiveZoneDave is bringing some balance to this thread - beating out Dallas for Robertson was HUGE! cant believe some folks are already starting to trash Larkin's legacy - 10 years of giving it his all at the Joe deserves better than that

I'm glad Zetterberg's patience is getting some credit - he's been a master of waiting out the market for the right deal. Can we please focus on Larkin's actual contract situation though? 5 years at $8.7M AAV, full no-trade clause... this should heavily influence any potential trade discussions, imo.

I'm more concerned about our D-core right now than Larkin's contract situation. Where is Edvinsson getting ice time? He needs every minute he can get next season if we're going to improve on D. We need him playing 20+ minutes a game, not stuck in the press box.