The offseason rumor mill has started spinning again, and two of the biggest names attached to the Detroit Red Wings are right in the middle of it. Bleacher Report’s Lyle Richardson included Dylan Larkin and Alex DeBrincat on his list of the NHL’s top trade candidates, though neither Red Wing cracked the top three.
That alone says plenty about where things stand: there’s interest, there’s noise, but there isn’t much hard information. Richardson admitted as much when it came to DeBrincat, noting that the winger’s future in Detroit remains unsettled even after reports suggesting he could stay.
“On July 27, Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now felt that DeBrincat would stay put if the Wings offered him fair market value on his next contract, citing the winger's Michigan ties,” said Richardson. “Time will tell about that. For now, however, his future with the Red Wings will be worth monitoring as this season progresses.”
For now, that leaves DeBrincat in a watch-and-wait spot. If his camp is right, the expectation is that the Farmington Hills native has a strong chance to remain in Detroit for the long haul.
Larkin’s situation is murkier, but his place on the board is still notable. He landed just outside the top trade candidates, behind Alexander Nikishin of the Carolina Hurricanes, Shane Wright of the Seattle Kraken, Kirill Marchenko of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Team USA teammate Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets.
That doesn’t change the fact that Larkin would command a massive return if he ever did move. He remains a top-line center who can reliably score 30 goals, and that kind of player doesn’t come cheap. Still, the timing of everything around Detroit has complicated the picture.
The long-running uncertainty around Larkin, paired with the Red Wings’ slow search for a new general manager, appears to have stalled any serious momentum. Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic said the change in Detroit’s front office has had an impact on the Minnesota Wild’s thinking as well.
“The biggest issue for the Wild isn’t that the news kills a Larkin trade. It’s that it removes whatever momentum there was toward one,” Russo and Smith state. “Detroit suddenly has every reason to pause, let a new executive settle in, meet with Larkin and reassess before making arguably the biggest decision the franchise has made in years.”
If Minnesota still wants to chase Larkin, the path forward now runs through a new decision-maker in Detroit.
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