The Red Wings went into Dylan Larkin trade talks looking for a young center. That was the priority, the cleanest way to replace what they’d lose if they moved their captain. But Emmitt Finnie has started to complicate that plan.
At 21, Finnie is hardly a finished product. He was taken 201st overall in the 2023 Draft, and for much of his rookie season he worked on the wing, often next to Larkin. Yet since Larkin was suspended, Finnie has been asked to handle the middle of Detroit’s top line, and the early returns have been loud enough to matter.
The shift back to center started with an opening created by Marco Kasper’s early injury. Head coach Todd McLellan moved Finnie to the position he played in junior, even if the staff had questions about how quickly he’d take to it.
After an Oct. 13 overtime loss to New Jersey, McLellan said that because of the forward’s speed, the staff “weren’t sure that he would grasp the center-ice position right away,” according to the Red Wings’ game recap. He added, “He’s been trained as a winger in the League, but we believe he’s a center.”
That same night, Finnie gave Detroit a glimpse of what that could look like. He scored once and added an assist while centering Alex DeBrincat and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård, and that line accounted for all of the Red Wings’ offense.
Since then, the opportunity has only grown. Larkin’s suspension began Oct. 29, and Finnie got the first shot at the top-line center job, skating between DeBrincat and Viktor Arvidsson, according to CBS Sports’ player notes.
He has made the most of it. Entering Tuesday’s game in Tampa Bay, he had seven goals and 11 points in 15 games, a plus-10 rating and a four-game point streak that included three goals.
Detroit’s results without Larkin have been uneven, which is no surprise. The Red Wings went 2-2 during the suspension and dropped to 7-6-3 after a 4-2 loss in Tampa Bay on Tuesday, according to ESPN’s game recap. But they haven’t fallen apart, and Finnie is a big reason why.
That matters because Detroit’s ask in the Larkin discussions has been clear. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported on Oct. 22 that the club was targeting young centers in talks, including prospects still developing.
That made sense when there wasn’t an obvious in-house answer for the top line. Finnie changes the equation.
If he keeps producing, Detroit doesn’t have to lock itself into one specific position in any return package. The Red Wings could chase the best young asset a partner is willing to move, whether that player is a center, winger or defenseman. That opens up more possible deals and gives interim general manager Shawn Horcoff more flexibility.
There’s also the cap side of it. Larkin’s contract carries an $8.7 million cap hit every season through 2030-31. If Detroit can fill the spot internally, it can use the room created by a trade to address other needs instead of spending it on another center.
That doesn’t mean Finnie has made Larkin expendable. He hasn’t.
Larkin has been a dependable two-way center for a decade and has handled the heaviest assignments. Finnie is only a month into his second NHL season, and a hot stretch in a new role doesn’t guarantee he can hold it all year.
Opponents will adjust, and the scoring pace won’t stay this friendly forever.
The rest of the roster still has questions, too. Andrew Copp has moved into a bigger role down the middle, and the goaltending situation became less certain when Daniil Tarasov replaced John Gibson after the first period on Tuesday, according to the ESPN recap. Detroit’s depth will keep getting tested.
Still, there’s a real shift here. The Red Wings already have one card in this standoff with Larkin, the suspension.
Finnie’s emergence gives them another. Every game he handles the job makes it easier for Detroit to hold firm and harder to settle for a deal that doesn’t fit.
They went looking for a young center. They may already have part of the answer.
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