The Dylan Larkin watch keeps getting louder, and now another well-connected insider is saying the same thing: this feels close.
The Minnesota Wild open a three-game road trip tonight in Edmonton, where they’ll face an Oilers team that comes in at 6-1-1 and has won six of its last seven. The Wild are 6-2-1 and riding a two-game winning streak. At the same time, the Detroit Red Wings are out West as well, taking on Seattle with a 3-3-2 record and their own two-game heater.
But the bigger story remains Larkin, the 30-year-old center whose situation in Detroit has only grown messier. He has one goal and two assists through six games this season, and the tension around him has only intensified since he asked the Wings for a trade at the start of the offseason.
The Wild have been the team most closely linked to him ever since. Detroit, though, has held firm, reportedly wanting a premier return of NHL-ready players before moving their former captain. That has left talks stuck in place for now.
Still, there have been signs of movement. Earlier this month, top Red Wings executives were seen scouting multiple Wild games, which hinted that something might finally be shifting. Then on Friday, John Buccigross added fuel to the fire by saying a Larkin trade was coming within seven to 10 days.
Now Michael Russo is backing up that line of thinking.
On KFAN Tuesday, the Athletic insider said he expects a deal soon and described the situation in Detroit as increasingly unsustainable.
“I think it’s going to happen soon. Like, I am under the impression from multiple sources that there was a conference call with the Red Wings the other day.
I think there’s a lot of rumors out there that it’s getting close. It’s ugly right now in Detroit.
They’re not playing well. He’s not playing well.
I think they’d like to make a move at some point.”
Russo, like Buccigross, did not identify the team involved in that conference call. He did say the key questions are how many teams are in the mix for Larkin and how many of them he’d agree to join by waiving his no-trade clause.
Russo also believes Larkin actually wants Minnesota. In his view, if that weren’t the case, a deal likely would have been done with another club already.
Lou Nanne mentioned Montreal as one of those possibilities, and Russo pointed to the reception Larkin got when the Red Wings played there on Oct. 10. Canadiens fans cheered him that night, which stands out because Larkin is an American and has previously said he would not want to play in Canada.
Larkin has been a reliable scorer for years, with at least 30 goals in each of the past three seasons. In 2025-26, he scored 34 goals and finished with 67 points in 74 games as Detroit missed the playoffs for the 10th straight season.
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