Larkin’s trade request ‘sucks,’ but DeBrincat still has his back
LAS VEGAS – No general manager. Your captain wanting out. One of your team’s top defensemen unsigned. Pretty much nothing is on solid ground for the Detroit Red Wings right now.
It thus couldn’t have been an easy assignment for the team’s leading goal scorer, Alex DeBrincat, to sit down with reporters Tuesday evening for the 2026-27 NHL Player Media Tour in Vegas. But he gutted it out while doing his best to shine a positive light on the team’s situation, even if his uncertainty was transparent.
Captain Dylan Larkin’s humdinger of a trade request dropped in June, and his short list of preferred destinations, which started at three teams and expanded to four, likely hamstrung then-GM Steve Yzerman, who was determined not to force a trade, reminding the hockey world that Larkin still has five years remaining on his contract. Yzerman stepped down from the GM chair a month after the request and, with the club still not yet filling the position, it’s been difficult to make progress on a trade. Not only does it sting not knowing what will happen with the Wings’ first-line center days before training camp starts, but there’s also no understanding of who or what the return will be for Larkin. The Wings therefore stare down the possibility of starting the season with Larkin’s future in complete limbo – and without knowing which high-impact players they could acquire for him and insert into their lineup long-term.
DeBrincat understands how awkward and disappointing the situation is. But he supports his friend and (soon-to-be-former?) teammate and wants to see the bright side for a team that spent much of last season in a playoff spot before a post-Olympics collapse.
“It sucks. Doesn’t really change what we think of him,” DeBrincat said Tuesday. “He’s still a great player. He’s been a great friend and a great teammate to me, and we obviously love him here. That’s kind of for him to answer, what’s next for him. But for us, I think it’s all the same. We’re happy to see him at the rink and happy to get started.”
Still, with all due respect to new additions such as Viktor Arvidsson and Keegan Kolesar: neither comes close to replacing Larkin. Nor will they fully paper over the hole left by DeBrincat’s longtime linemate Patrick Kane, who returned to the Chicago Blackhawks in free agency.
And then there’s RFA Simon Edvinsson, a rising star as a towering two-way monster on Detroit’s blueline, unsigned and offer-sheet eligible, with the lack of a GM halting contract talks. He lamented this week that “there’s no one to talk to” about getting a deal done.
“It’s like anything, you don’t really like change, it feels uncomfortable for a bit,” DeBrincat said. “But at this time, we’re all just excited to get back. Obviously we want Simon there, but I think he is still going to be in Detroit, maybe come hang out with the guys, I’m not really sure what his plan is, you guys would have to ask him. Overall, I think we’re just excited to get back and play hockey again. That’s where we can get away from everything. I think all the guys are excited to get back as a team and see each other again and just play. “
DeBrincat expresses excitement over the coming season and goes as far as claiming the team is “looking essentially the same as we were last year.” He can try his best to squint and see the Wings’ potential to defy expectations and make the playoffs. Maybe Larkin ends up playing some or all of the season with Detroit while awaiting a trade. Maybe they get another strong season from John Gibson in net. Maybe DeBrincat tops 40 goals again. Maybe Moritz Seider remains an all-world presence on defense. Maybe one of the Wings’ prospects, such as Nate Danielson or Michael Brandsegg-Nygard, has a breakthrough season. But there’s no hiding from the fact DeBrincat is 696 games and nine seasons into a highly productive career and has competed in the playoffs just once – in the 2019-20 COVID-19 bubble tournament, which gifted his then-team, the lowly Blackhawks, a flimsy berth with the league’s 23rd-best points percentage. Even though playing for the Wings is a childhood dream realized, they haven’t made the playoffs in 10 years, the longest active drought in the NHL. Little Caesars Arena opened in 2017 and has yet to host a postseason NHL game. DeBrincat is 28, with three 40-goal seasons to his name, and his prime years are wasting away.
He wouldn’t be human if he didn’t at least consider that this season, his UFA walk year, is crucial in deciding whether he wants to be a Red Wing long term.
“Winning is very important to me, and I think we’re a lot closer than people are giving us credit for,” he said. “And for being in Detroit, I’ve said it all along, I love it here, and ultimately that’s where I want to end up. But there’s a lot of things that go into that. So we’ll see what happens when a new GM comes in. But overall, I love the guys, I love the team, love playing for the Red Wings. That’s something that we all take tremendous pride in, putting that jersey on every night and the history that goes into it.”
What happens to the Red Wings this season? It’s simply impossible to forecast until they find a GM. They might want to get on that.
_____
POST SPONSORED BY bet365
_____