Entering November, the Dylan Larkin trade picture is still stuck in neutral, and Detroit is trying to widen the market.
According to Pierre LeBrun, the Red Wings want Larkin’s camp to expand his trade list because the team has had trouble finding a deal that works. On Insider Trading, LeBrun described it as a standoff.
“Here’s where I’d say the situation is at right now - it’s a bit of a game of poker in that the Red Wings have told Larkin’s camp they feel like they’ve exhausted every option here with these 10 teams on his list,” said LeBrun on Insider Trading. “They’re just not there with a trade that makes sense for them. But they would like to go deeper in talks with six to eight other teams outside his list, where the Red Wings believe there’s more fertile ground to find the kind of package they need.”
That “fertile ground” is all about finding a team with the kind of surplus Detroit wants back for its top-line center. Right now, it does not sound like many clubs can meet the price Red Wings interim GM Shawn Horcoff is asking. Pat Brisson, Larkin’s agent, has pushed back, saying Detroit already has a 10-team list to work with and can still make a trade from there.
Larkin’s current list is a step up from the four teams he originally had over the summer. The teams he is willing to move to are the Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, Minnesota Wild, Dallas Stars, Washington Capitals, Carolina Hurricanes, Utah Mammoth, Tampa Bay Lightning, Colorado Avalanche, and New Jersey Devils.
LeBrun also named a group of teams that sit outside that list but could be willing to pay more to land a player like Larkin: the Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Los Angeles Kings, and Buffalo Sabres. Each would have a clear use for him. Boston has been searching for a No. 1 center since Patrice Bergeron left, Montreal needs a second-line center behind Nick Suzuki, the Kings are looking for a solution to Anze Kopitar’s retirement, and Buffalo could use a veteran middleman for its forward group.
For now, it remains a waiting game. Larkin has already said he would sit out Red Wings games until he is traded, and Detroit responded by suspending him without pay. That costs him $41,237 per day, according to larkinlosses.com.
There is pressure on both sides, but Detroit’s position is not exactly comfortable either. At the time of the article, the Red Wings had 17 points and sat last in the Atlantic.
They would be fourth in both the Metropolitan and Pacific Divisions and sixth in the Central. A deal that brings back a meaningful package would help the organization with its current core.
Larkin, a Waterford, MI native, finished his 2025-26 season with 67 points in 74 games and a plus-3 rating. He has spent 11 seasons with the Red Wings, with the last five each producing at least 30 goals, yet he still has not reached the playoffs in 10 straight seasons.
He has played only five career postseason games. With five years left on an eight-year contract carrying an $8.7MM cap hit, he would presumably want a chance to change that.
Any team that acquires him would have him under contract until he is 34 in 2031. He also has a full no-trade clause for the next two seasons before it turns into a 10-team trade list.
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