Dylan Larkin stopped playing for the Detroit Red Wings last week, telling the club through agent Pat Brisson that he wouldn’t take the ice again until he was traded. Pierre LeBrun has now explained why nothing has moved since.
Interim general manager Shawn Horcoff got in touch with Brisson and co-agent Matt Williams in recent days with a problem.
“The Red Wings have told Larkin’s camp, listen, we feel like we’ve exhausted every option here with these 10 teams on his list, and we’re just not there with a trade that makes sense for us,” LeBrun said on RDS.
Detroit wanted permission to negotiate with six to eight clubs outside the approved group. The answer came back immediately.
“We gave you 10 teams, which was more than the three teams we gave you in the beginning. You can work with those ten teams,” Brisson said, per LeBrun.
How Larkin’s trade list has moved:
| Teams on the original list | Teams on it now | Teams Detroit wants added |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 10 | 6 to 8 |
Which teams are on Dylan Larkin’s trade list?
He opened with three in June and expanded it to ten last month. The current group reads Minnesota, Vegas, Florida, Dallas, Tampa Bay, Colorado, Washington, Carolina, New Jersey and Utah, and it hasn’t produced a deal Detroit is willing to make.
The clubs Detroit would rather be talking to are all absent from it. LeBrun named Montreal, Boston, Los Angeles and Buffalo among the six to eight the Red Wings believe would improve the return, and described the Bruins as very interested, with Don Sweeney making calls.
Minnesota are the complicating factor at the other end. LeBrun has reported that the Wild have made more offers for Larkin than any other club, and sources there have called Detroit’s asking price unrealistic.
So both sides are holding something the other wants and neither will move first.
“It’s a bit of a game of poker,” LeBrun said, describing it elsewhere as a real poker game between the two parties.
There is a second thread running alongside it. Darren Dreger reported that Boston would prefer Simon Edvinsson to Larkin, though any club acquiring the Swedish defenseman would need to extend him before December 1 for him to play this season.
Detroit sit 7-5-3 and are managing both situations without a permanent general manager.
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