Dylan Larkin requested a trade out of the Detroit Red Wings shortly after the 2025-26 NHL season came to an end. Just days before training camp and the 2026-27 preseason begins, however, he remains a member of the organization in Motor City. Nothing has gone Larkin’s way, and the latest setback Detroit suffered in its general manager search only added insult to injury.
The Red Wings are only days away from the start of training camp, and there has been zero progress in Larkin’s trade talks. By the looks of it, the captain—likely won’t hold that title for much longer—will have to join his teammates on the practice rink as he awaits a resolution to his ongoing rift with the franchise. In fact, he will likely have to wait for the 2026-27 NHL season to start before being traded.
“Given where we are at the late stages of the summer, it’s more likely than not that he will be starting [the season] in Detroit,” Ryan Johnston reported during an appearance on First Up.
With reports suggesting the holdout route is closed to Larkin amid his Red Wings drama, he may have no choice but to put on a happy face and go to work. The problem is, with Steve Yzerman gone, Larkin doesn’t even have a scapegoat or someone to aim his frustration at.
Dylan Larkin #71 of the Detroit Red Wings.
Larkin’s trade-list hasn’t paid off
When Larkin requested a trade out of the Red Wings, he put his full no-trade clause to good use by providing a three-team trade list to the front office. The problem was that was as far as he could go in his attempt to leave Detroit. The ball bounced off to the Minnesota Wild, Florida Panthers, and Vegas Golden Knights’ courts, and the Red Wings’, too.
The main issue is that the Wild (believed to be Larkin’s ideal destination) lack the assets to meet the Wings’ requirements. Meanwhile, the Panthers and Golden Knights have, at most, lukewarm interest in Larkin. Both Florida and Vegas are quite cap-crunched and don’t really need a top-six centerman as much as Minnesota does.
That means the biggest bidder in the sweepstakes is actually a short-funded suitor. That doesn’t bode well for Larkin’s odds of being traded anytime soon. Plus, it’s not as if Detroit risks losing Larkin to free agency anytime soon. He will only become a UFA in 2031. Of course, the drama won’t extend for that long, but if it did, it takes two to tango, and the Red Wings can be as petty as needed to make their point.
Larkin can’t do much about his trade
For the time being, Larkin may not be going anywhere. There’s also no general manager in Hockeytown, so that’s yet another hurdle, and actually the biggest one impeding a trade from materializing anytime soon. Whenever the Red Wings make a decision on Yzerman’s replacement—a report hints they missed the urgent timeline to hire a new GM—then trade talks will make sense again.
Until then, the status quo will prevail. Larkin will remain a member of the Red Wings, and his bid to leave his home state of Michigan for the first time in his hockey career will stay on hold. Meanwhile, the hourglass will only run shorter on sand grains, and the start of training camp will come shortly.
