Dylan Larkin to miss start of Red Wings camp with injury

Center Dylan Larkin won’t be in attendance for the beginning of Detroit Red Wings training camp on Thursday, but not for the reason you might have expected.

According to interim general manager Shawn Horcoff, Larkin will miss the start of camp due to an upper-body injury he suffered during offseason training.

Larkin, 30, requested a trade out of Detroit in June, so it wouldn’t have been surprising to see him skip training camp ayways in order to put more pressure on the Red Wings to get a deal done, as goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is expected to do with the Winnipeg Jets. It’ll be interesting to see for how long this injury keeps Larkin off the ice, and what his level of participation will be if and when he returns to the Red Wings.

The Waterford, Michigan native notched 34 goals and 33 assists for 67 points in 74 games for Detroit last season. He also had two goals and an assist for three points in six games as a member of the gold medal-winning United States men’s national team at the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in February.

Selected 15th overall out of the United States Hockey League (USHL) by the Red Wings in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Larkin went on to play one season for the University of Michigan before joining Detroit, where he’s played all 11 seasons of his NHL career so far.

His career-best campaign came in the 2022-23 season, in which he registered 32 goals and 47 assists for 79 points in 80 games. His only playoff experience came in his rookie season of 2015-16, when he had one goal and no assists in a first-round series loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games.

Larkin is entering the fourth season of an eight-year, $69.6 million contract with the Red Wings.