Could Red Wings play tough with Larkin trade request with so few options?
Dylan Larkin sent shockwaves through Hockeytown and the rest of the NHL last week when several hockey insiders reported the Detroit Red Wings’ captain has requested the trade.
The 29-year-old, who has spent his entire career with the Red Wings, scored 34 goals and 33 assists for 67 points in 2025-26. Larkin has a full no-trade clause for 2026-27 and 2027-28, and a report from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press suggests there’s only three teams he would accept a trade to: the Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights.
Dylan Larkin likes 3 trade destinations. But which others would make sense?
With trade options seemingly limited for Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman, could Detroit make it difficult for Larkin and sit on any potential deal? Does Yzerman have more leverage than we’re led to believe?
On last Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Down To Irf host Irfaan Gaffar discuss the rumors around Larkin and what the Red Wings’ next step is.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Were you surprised by any of the three teams on the list? Were you surprised the list was so short? Were you surprised there was a list?
Irfaan Gaffar: Not at all, and I don’t think people should be, either. There’s a lot of people online that are saying Larkin is screwing over the Red Wings for only giving them three teams, but it’s built into his contract.
Tyler Yaremchuk: They gave him the no-trade clause.
Irfaan Gafaar: And teams use leverage on players, without a question. So why can’t a player do this now? You look at it from Larkin’s perspective, and these are places that he wants to go.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I’m sure Steve Yzerman is going to ask for the moon when he starts these conversations. He’ll call Florida and say “I want Anton Lundell.” He’ll call Minnesota and say “I want Joel Eriksson Ek.” There’s a part here where between those three teams, they’ll be an interesting balancing act.
These three teams want to win the bidding war, but if Yzerman comes calling for Lundell or Eriksson Ek, those teams can also say, “Whoa whoa whoa, you can only move him to one of the three of us. We don’t need to pay an arm and a leg for this.”
Irfaan Gafaar: Well that’s the thing, especially since it’s gotten out. Maybe before it got out, the offer would be way up here. But now not so much, because he only wants to go to three teams.
Tyler Yaremchuk: And we do know when we go back to Yzerman’s history with the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Steven Stamkos negotiation, when he told him the deal would be worth $8.5 million and Stamkos could take it or leave it.
Yzerman could dig his heels, if he wants to. He could sit there and go to these three teams, and if the offers aren’t good enough, what happens if we get to the middle of July or the end of July? What if Yzerman goes to Larkin and says, “I talked to those three teams, they aren’t paying me what you’re worth, so you can either expand your list or I’ll see you in training camp.”
Can you see that scenario where that plays out?
Irfaan Gafaar: I can a little bit, but the interesting thing to me is that they’re probably going to want to get this done quick, right? I think if you look at it from the Detroit perspective, and they’re probably pissed that the trade request got out. There’s no way it leaked internally.
I’m sure that Larkin is going to want to get it done soon, I’m sure Yzerman is going to want to get it done soon, quickly. But it’s an important move.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…