Steve Yzerman’s move out of the GM chair and into a senior advisor role has only sharpened the spotlight on the real issue in Detroit: Dylan Larkin’s trade request. The front-office shuffle is news on its own, but the bigger question is whether the damage with the captain can still be undone.
Helene St. James doesn’t think so.
And according to Ansar Khan, the fracture goes back further than Larkin’s public frustration over a quiet deadline. The tension traces to 2018, when the captaincy stayed open for two years after Henrik Zetterberg retired.
Larkin, like everyone else, expected the job to be his. Yzerman passed him over for two straight years.
That kind of slight is hard enough to smooth over if it’s only between player and GM. The sense here, though, is that Larkin’s bitterness reaches beyond Yzerman and into the organization itself.
Elliotte Friedman said time will tell whether the two sides can repair things. At the very least, there’s still the possibility that someone new steps in and tries to change Larkin’s mind.
Elsewhere in the rumor mill, Patrick Kane’s free-agency decision has reportedly been cut down to two destinations: Buffalo and Chicago. Chris Chelios said he’s spoken with Kane directly, and Buffalo still looks like the favorite.
The Sabres may not be done adding, either. They’re also working the trade market for Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, and reports say Hellebuyck would be willing to waive his no-movement clause specifically to go to Buffalo. If both moves happen, Buffalo suddenly becomes one of the loudest stories in the Eastern Conference.
Chicago carries a different kind of pull, of course. The idea of Kane going back there has obvious emotional weight.
Detroit could be a small wildcard because of its cap space, but it still doesn’t sound like a real landing spot.
In Edmonton, the goaltending picture is crowded and unsettled. The Oilers are set to start the season with Tristan Jarry, Devon Levi, and Frederik Andersen, three NHL-caliber goalies and no obvious No.
- The early plan appears to be spreading the starts around, at least at first.
None of the three comes with clean certainty: Andersen is 36 and has dealt with injuries, Jarry is coming off some of the league’s worst goaltending numbers, and Levi is still largely unproven at the NHL level. The expectation is that a clear leader will show up quickly.
There’s also a contract angle in Edmonton after Cole Perfetti signed a five-year extension at a $6 million AAV following an injury-shortened season. That deal naturally raises the question of what Matt Savoie might be in line for next. The Jets bridged Perfetti to get here, but the belief is the Oilers would rather avoid that path and get to a long-term agreement right away.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, got a major piece of business done by extending Trevor Zegras for four years at a $9.125 million AAV after his bounce-back season with the Flyers. The deal leaves people wondering whether the club was simply convinced he was worth it or whether their offer sheet to Leo Carlsson influenced the number. It looks like full freight, and then some, though the broader market may be pushing contracts higher anyway - even if that didn’t stop the Ducks from having to pay $18 million to their top center.
The Devils also made a move, bringing in Anthony Mantha on a two-year, $4.75 million deal with no trade protection. Several teams were in the mix, but the market never seemed eager to go beyond one or two years.
As Josh Yohe put it, “Mantha let the Penguins know during the regular season that a three-year deal was his starting point for extension talks. The Penguins didn’t want to give him three years or more. Neither did anyone else, apparently.”
In Other News...
Oilers Just Took Another High Stakes Swing At Their Biggest Problem
The Oilers have spent plenty of time looking for answers in goal, and this latest move shows they are still treating the position like the biggest item on their to-do list. Edmonton has already reshaped its goaltending group with Tristan Jarry, Devon Levi and Frederik Andersen, a clear sign the organization is trying to give itself more than one path forward after cycling through different options.
Levi is the name that stands out most in that mix, because the upside is obvious and the fit feels like it could matter over time. With Jarry and Andersen in the room, the Oilers are also giving themselves some insulation as they try to bring Levi along, but the real question is whether this swing finally gives them the stability they have been chasing. [Read more 🡒]
Evander Kane Feels Like The Flames Debate Fans Dread Most
Evander Kane is back on the open market after a full season with the Vancouver Canucks, and his name is already circulating in the kind of conversations that tend to follow a veteran winger with a long track record and a recent injury history. At this stage of his career, the appeal is pretty clear: a proven scorer, plenty of edge, and enough experience that teams can picture him fitting into more than one kind of lineup.
For Edmonton, the intrigue is easy to understand because the Oilers have been linked to the same sort of low-cost, low-commitment path that could make sense for a player like Kane. A professional tryout would let everyone take a longer look before anything more permanent, and a one-year deal would keep the risk manageable if the fit is there, especially with the club still sorting through its forward depth and the uncertainty around some of its other options. [Read more 🡒]