Dylan Larkin was back in the Detroit Red Wings lineup on Tuesday, and the reaction around him made it clear nothing about this situation has gotten easier.
After missing the previous two games while recovering from an upper-body injury, Larkin played in his season debut against the Ottawa Senators. It came four months after he asked the Red Wings to trade him, and it followed the same reception he got on opening night, when boos poured down during player introductions. The first time he touched the puck Tuesday, the boos were back again, loud and immediate.
That part was always going to be there. The only real question is how long it lasts, and the answer seems straightforward: until Larkin is dealt or Detroit locks up a playoff berth.
Larkin sounded like a player who knows exactly where this is headed. After the game, he told The Athletic, “You know, it’s part of it. I’m trying to be a man and face it, and I understand why that’s happening.”
He also looked like someone trying to adjust to a strange new reality. When he scored his first goal of the season to put Detroit ahead 2-1, he didn’t throw his hands up or give the kind of explosive reaction fans are used to seeing from him. He simply waited for teammates to mob him in a group hug, almost like the moment didn’t belong to him anymore.
That shift in body language said plenty.
Larkin had already made it clear at training camp that he still wants out of Detroit, and one win in a long 84-game season isn’t going to change that. The result may have felt good in the moment, but it doesn’t alter the bigger picture.
What stood out Tuesday was how his teammates responded to him. They were there for the fist bumps and head taps after his goal, and they didn’t hesitate to back him up when things got chippy.
Late in the second period, Senators forward Ridly Greig delivered a reverse hit on Alex DeBrincat, and Larkin was first to jump in. DeBrincat then got involved as he tried to pull Senators forward Shane Pinto away from behind Larkin.
That kind of response says something about the room. The sense of going to battle for one another is still there, even after everything that happened this summer.
Maybe the rest of the team feels the backlash aimed at Larkin and sympathizes with it. Maybe some of them even see the bigger fight, the one tied to how ownership handles its players, and hope things change after Larkin is gone.
Either way, the bond is still real.
Detroit is better with Larkin in the lineup. That much is obvious.
But the Red Wings are still carrying the same flaws, including the lack of a true No. 2 center behind him. And because of that, this win changes nothing about Larkin’s future.
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