Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin is heading to training camp, but the offseason noise around his future never really went away. After requesting a move out of Detroit shortly after the 2025-26 season ended, Larkin is expected to start the new year with the Red Wings after no trade materialized.
The reasons behind the ask have already been reported: no playoff hockey and a strained relationship with former GM Steve Yzerman were believed to be the main drivers. And while Larkin floated a short list of teams he would be willing to join, the market has not exactly opened up for him.
On a recent edition of TSN OverDrive, Bryan Hayes and Jamie McLennan took the discussion straight to Montreal, with Hayes laying out why the Canadiens could make sense as a landing spot.
“All along, Larkin to Montreal just makes sense. Suzuki and Larkin as your one-two punch, with the firepower already on the wings and a deep prospect pool-that’s a perfect fit. And he’s locked up long-term like the rest of their core.”
McLennan followed that line of thinking from a roster and cap perspective, while also pointing out that Larkin would not be walking into an unfamiliar room.
“You’re not dropping a $13-million player into a cap structure where Noah Dobson is your highest-paid guy at nine-and-a-half. Caufield and Larkin already skate together in the summer, so it’s not like he’d be walking into a room of strangers. It’s not like there’s no Americans there.”
Hayes then added:
“Lane Hutson and Cole Caufield are both there.”
Still, Montreal is only part of the picture. Larkin had indicated he would be open to waiving his no-trade clause for a group that included the Minnesota Wild, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and Dallas Stars. But according to veteran writer Ansar Khan, those fallback options have not gotten far.
“His secondary choices - Florida, Vegas and Dallas - either have little interest, insufficient cap space, or no desire to part with what it would take,” Khan wrote via MLive.
For now, Larkin remains in Detroit, where he has been for more than a decade after being selected No. 15 overall in the 2014 NHL draft. He has five seasons left on his eight-year, $69.6 million contract, and his status is still unresolved enough that reports say he could even be stripped of the captaincy.
Last season, the 30-year-old posted 67 points with 34 goals and 33 assists.
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