For the past decade, Dylan Larkin was the most recognizable face of the Detroit Red Wings. Now, around Little Caesars Arena, the team is making it look like he was never there.
Since Larkin quit on the Red Wings last month and was suspended by the team, Detroit has been removing traces of him from the building and the surrounding area. The large banner that once hung in a place of honor outside the rink, visible as fans approached from Woodward Ave., is gone.
So is Captain’s row, the display that featured cardboard likenesses of Steve Yzerman, Nicklas Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, and Larkin. That space has been replaced by images of the Russian Five.
The club is presenting the change as a tribute to the 30th anniversary of the famed group. The timing, though, doesn’t line up.
The 30th anniversary of the Russian Five was last year. Sergei Fedorov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Slava Fetisov, Igor Larionov, and Vyacheslav Kozlov played their first game together as Red Wings players on October 27, 1995.
The purge extends to the team store as well. Larkin merchandise is gone from the shelves, despite the fact that his gear used to be one of the shop’s biggest sellers. In its place, Patrick Kane Red Wings jerseys are still available, even though Kane left in the summer to sign as a UFA with the Chicago Blackhawks.
What Kane did not do, of course, was walk away from the team with five years left on his contract.
The optics are hard to miss. Larkin’s image has been replaced by the Russian Five, and the symbolism fits the way the Red Wings appear to be treating him now.
In the old Soviet Union, when well-known people defected, they became nonpersons. Every trace of them was erased.
That’s where Larkin stands in Detroit now: persona non grata, and increasingly a nonperson in the franchise’s history.
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Dylan Larkins situation has moved well beyond a routine trade request, and the financial cost is already adding up. The Red Wings have suspended him without pay after he refused to report to the rink, and the standoff has now cost him nearly $500,000 in salary while the sides remain stuck in place.
Detroit would like to widen the list of possible trade destinations so it can chase a stronger return, but Larkins camp has not budged. That leaves the Red Wings trying to work through a market that is still too narrow for their liking, with no clear sign yet that the impasse is about to ease. [Read more 🡒]
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For a team trying to navigate a potentially complicated roster decision, that matters. The Red Wings are not just waiting on Larkins preferences to clarify, they are also weighing other ways to reshape the roster if the situation stays stuck, including the possibility of moving players such as Simon Edvinsson. For now, though, the bigger question is whether Detroit gets more flexibility from Larkin or has to start making its own moves without it. [Read more 🡒]
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Keegan Kolesar has brought the edge and physical presence Detroit wanted from him, but the offensive return has been much thinner, and the ice time has reflected that. Through 18 games, he has only one goal, a reminder that not every newcomer is delivering the same kind of impact as the Red Wings sort through how to balance energy, grit and scoring depth. [Read more 🡒]