Steve Yzerman’s move out of the Red Wings’ GM chair has thrown a fresh layer of uncertainty into the Minnesota Wild’s long-running chase for Dylan Larkin.
Larkin has been Minnesota’s top summer target ever since the Detroit captain asked for a trade and included the Wild on his list of preferred destinations. For a while, the Wild believed there was still a workable path to getting him, even if their offer - almost certainly built around futures - never got Yzerman’s attention.
Wednesday’s news in Detroit changes the tempo, if not the destination. Yzerman is stepping back into a senior adviser role, and the Red Wings are hiring a new head of hockey operations. That doesn’t slam the door on a Larkin deal, but it does slow everything down and strip away whatever momentum had been building.
From Minnesota’s side, the biggest issue is timing. Detroit now has every reason to pause, bring in a new executive, sit down with Larkin and reassess before making what could be one of the franchise’s biggest decisions in years.
What happens next is murkier. A new front office could decide the Red Wings are still operating in win-now mode as they try to finish a 10-year rebuild, or it could steer the team toward more of a retool, where prospects and draft capital suddenly look a lot more appealing. There’s also the question of whether the new brass can repair the relationship enough to keep Larkin in Detroit - or whether that bridge has already been burned.
For the Wild, though, this isn’t a case of a trade being killed. It’s more that the path they were trying to walk just got longer and less certain.
Minnesota had already made its position clear, and Yzerman had made his. The pursuit had effectively stalled.
That stall matters because the No. 1 center search was supposed to be the centerpiece of an offseason that already looks shaky. Minnesota’s major additions up front were Blake Coleman and Russian winger Maxim Shabanov, whom the club is betting on as top-six options.
The Wild also had to replace 150 combined points after the departures of Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Johansson and Vladimir Tarasenko. On the blue line, they essentially swapped Jake Middleton for Olli Maatta on the third pair.
That would be a lot to ask of any summer, and it only makes sense if the Wild land the kind of center they’ve been waiting for. Larkin is the star they believe could not only change their lineup, but also strengthen their long-term pitch to Quinn Hughes. Extension talks with Hughes continue.
Minnesota still believes the one thing working in its favor is simple: Larkin wants to come to Minnesota. But wanting out and actually getting moved are two very different things. Detroit now has even more reason to see whether a new hockey operations leader can convince its captain to stay.
The problem for the Wild is that there isn’t a clean fallback option. They passed on the price for Vincent Trocheck, who was acquired by the Central Division rival Mammoth for defenseman Sean Durzi, prospect Cole Beaudoin and a third-round pick in 2027. Utah also landed Minnesota’s top free-agent target, Edina legend Anders Lee.
That’s why Yzerman’s departure lands so hard in St. Paul.
The Wild didn’t just miss on centers this summer; they waited on purpose. They passed on other chances because they believed Larkin was still realistically in play.
Now they’re left waiting even longer to find out whether that bet pays off.
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For a team that is always thinking about the long view in goal, the appeal is obvious: he brings a frame that stands out even before the rest of the toolkit comes into focus. The contract gives Minnesota a chance to keep working with him over the next few years, and the real question now is how quickly that raw physical profile can turn into something the Wild can actually count on down the road. [Read more 🡒]