Dylan Larkin has become accustomed to a certain kind of noise this season. Detroit’s own supporters booed him during player introductions at the home opener while he was injured, then booed him again on his first shift back. Saturday at the Bell Centre was something else entirely.
The chants started before the puck dropped and kept going through the first two periods. “We want Larkin,” 21,000 Montreal Canadiens supporters shouted at a player who is still, for now, a Detroit Red Wing. They cheered him off the ice after warmups too.
Asked about it afterwards, Larkin didn’t pretend he hadn’t noticed.
“It was interesting,” he said. “I never would’ve imagined that in this building in my career. But they’re passionate fans. In my opinion, it’s the best atmosphere in hockey, and they’re knowledgeable, and they love their team, and that’s how I read into it. And after a few seconds, it was just back to focusing on the game.”
Would Dylan Larkin accept a trade to Montreal?
Whatever the Bell Centre wants, the list suggests otherwise. The Canadiens weren’t on the group of teams Larkin submitted to then-general manager Steve Yzerman after Detroit missed the playoffs for a tenth consecutive season, and they didn’t appear on the expanded version either, which reportedly grew to include Dallas, Washington, Colorado and Tampa Bay alongside Minnesota, Florida and Vegas.
Larkin holds a full no-movement clause, which means Montreal can’t simply make an offer and have it accepted. Asked directly about the possibility of playing there, he declined to speculate and pointed out that he remains a Red Wing.
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His teammates handled it with less interest than the crowd did.
“First time for everything, but I mean, you’re focused on the game. You don’t really hear it,” one said.
Montreal won the game 1-0 in a shootout. Larkin, 30, requested the trade in June after years of frustration with how the organization had been run, and was stripped of the captaincy before this season began.
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