The least shocking thing to come out of Dylan Larkin’s appearance in front of the Detroit beat reporters was his inability to form a sentence when he was first asked a question he had to know was coming. It sums up Dylan Larkin’s 11 years as one of the players the Red Wings have relied on for leadership as they attempt to pull out of their prolonged rebuild: a failure to launch.
Larkin had the entire summer to think about what he would say were he expected to talk with reports as a member of the Detroit Red Wings, yet words failed him. He stammered, he stopped, he started, he stopped, sentences trailed off mid word.
It was the typical Dylan Larkin interview: uncomfortable for everyone involved.
He sounded like the ten year old who did something he knows was wrong but cannot articulate what was going through his mind when he took his actions. Larkin said he’s not ready to go there in explaining the reason for his trade request. He said he doesn’t regret his trade request, but also wants to keep the details between him, his agent, and the Red Wings front office.
There’s an old saying that sunlight is the best disinfectant, but it’s clear the Detroit Red Wings organization doesn’t buy that, as everything is kept under cover. So we have a captain who requested a trade but prevented the trade from happening; an organization that followed its own absurd timeline in removing the GM, only to falter so badly they needed to extend their interim GM; and finally, the inability to find a head of hockey ops despite reporting there was loads of interest — none of the details surrounding these facts are going to be shared with anyone.
Nope, it’s all business as usual and everything is going exactly to plan.
Another unfortunate cultural reference
As far as whether there is a path to Dylan fulfilling his current contract in Detroit, he made a couple interesting comments, the biggest being that he was looking forward to being at the bottom of the totem pole.
It was perhaps the first honest assessment of his time as a leader in Detroit — a role that simply never suited him. He also talked about how he cares deeply about his teammates and the staff who work with the players throughout the season. He appeared to fight back emotions when mentioning them. When asked about earning back their trust, he said he’d focus on doing that one day at a time, one game at a time.
Larkin has always performed at his best on teams like the US National Team, where he serves as a worker bee, often as a bottom six center. He’s rarely the guy with the media scrum in front of his locker; he gets to do his job in relative anonymity while staying under the radar, and the fact you never hear from him in this role further illustrates where he’s most comfortable.
Is there a path back for Larkin to finish out his career in Detroit?
I don’t think so. I was largely sympathetic when the request was made, but the fact he limited the options which resulted in it being all but impossible for the organization to receive anything approaching equivalent value sealed his fate as far as I’m concerned.
Shawn Horcoff jumped in when reporters asked for clarification on Larkin’s approved trade list, once again indicating this is a detail that will remain private.
But here’s the problem with secrecy: Larkin’s actions lead one to the belief he hoped to be gone before the request became public, to a location of his preference, and the Red Wings organization be damned if they got a shitty return.
Care to clear the air on that perception? Nope, not ready to discuss it, not sure I ever will be.
If all Larkin wanted was to be relieved of the weight of having the C on his chest, well that’s a much easier conversation for everyone involved. And if he truly wanted out, he could have expanded his trade list, but despite the attempts to keep his trade list hidden, there have been credible reports on which clubs would receive Larkin’s approval.
You can’t have it both ways: you can’t deny the trade list, which would explain why it was impossible to make a trade with one of those organizations and receive anything close to equivalent value. Scoring line centers have enormous trade value, and if the trade list included more teams, Larkin almost certainly would have been moved.
It’s also not a coincidence that all of those teams reported at being on his list are positioned for a long playoff run.
My guess is Dylan Larkin simply wants to be a worker bee on a championship caliber team. While he said winning the gold medal at the Winter Olympics has nothing to do with his request, the trade list really does tell you where his mind was this summer, at least that’s my take.
Ultimately Chris Ilitch will decide Dylan Larkin’s fate, and if there’s news, well, we’ll learn about it via a social media post.
If it was up to me, I’d be frank with Larkin and tell him the second he is obligated to do so, I would expect his ten team trade list so I could trade him with the quickness. If he wants to expedite that process, he can provide a ten team list at his leisure. And then I would do everything I could to minimize his presence in Detroit, as this is clearly what he wants and is also best for the organization.
I guess NOW I understand why it took SY so long to name him Captain. He probably regretted it as time progressed. It begs the question, “Was this rebuild doomed from the start because the main building block was weak?”
Well written!