Though inactive due to an upper-body injury, it’s been a wild start to the NHL preseason for Dylan Larkin. As expected, the drama brought up by his trade request to the Detroit Red Wings didn’t go anywhere, and the former captain had to go through the wringer as the team reported to training camp.
While Larkin admitted he has no regrets about his trade request and accepts the consequences of his actions, his body might tell a different story. Many times, there is a psychological side to injuries, and Larkin’s latest one may be an example. After head coach Todd McLellan warned Larkin amid the trade drama in training camp, a new update on Larkin’s status all but confirms the center could miss the preseason entirely.
As reported by Bleacher Report Open Ice, the Red Wings have assigned a week-to-week tag to Larkin’s injury. With the shortened NHL preseason and extended 84-game regular season, there’s a scenario in which Larkin is only healthy again by the time the puck officially drops.
Larkin’s return is a mystery
With the Red Wings making their regular-season debut on Oct. 2 against the New York Rangers at Little Caesars Arena, there’s a scenario in which Larkin doesn’t even make it in time for the home opener. If that’s the case, the buzz and speculation around his injury will only grow louder.
Dylan Larkin #71 of the Detroit Red Wings.
As things stand, many have their doubts about the veracity of his upper-body injury, seeing it as the perfect way to avoid the spotlight. Although Larkin urged Red Wings fans to reconsider before booing him throughout the season, his words likely changed nothing. There will be jeering. The levels of it could very well exceed those of the days when the late Claude Lemieux and the Colorado Avalanche were public enemies No. 1 in Motor City.
It will surely get ugly when Larkin touches the puck for the first time in the 2026-27 NHL season, and the former captain may be looking for a way to avoid it. And he may have found the perfect one in the form of his upper-body injury. That’s not to say the issue isn’t real, but there’s an argument to be made that perhaps Larkin won’t battle as hard to return to the ice as he normally would.
Larkin hasn’t been one to miss many games
Throughout his 11-year career in the league, Larkin hasn’t missed many games, only 45, which translates into an average of 4.1 games missed per season. If, somehow, he were to start missing games with more regularity now, it would be peculiar and eyebrow-raising, to say the least.
Still, that’s the way things are looking, as Larkin has received a week-to-week status, potentially staying off the ice for the entire preseason. If that happens, it would take some time for him to reacclimate and get back into a game-day rhythm before returning to the lineup.
Unless he’s traded overnight, Larkin likely won’t get to “hide” forever, but being away for the home opener against the Rangers could be a best-case scenario, as that night he’d have to face the pent-up emotions of a fanbase coming off a 10th-straight season of playoff-less hockey in Hockeytown.
