- Dylan Larkin asked out of Detroit on June 4 and is still a Red Wing with camp about five weeks away
- A holdout is off the table, and the $8.7 million on his contract is the reason why
- Read below for what the Red Wings could do if their captain ever refused to report
Dylan Larkin is going to show up.
That’s the read out of Detroit with training camp roughly five weeks away, and it closes the door on the one scenario Red Wings fans have been kicking around all summer. Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now shot down the idea that the captain sits out camp to force a trade, and the reasoning starts with the number on Larkin’s contract.
Larkin is due $8.7 million this season. Holding out means not collecting it.
Detroit could suspend him for refusing to honor the deal, which hands the leverage straight back to management. A player sitting at home also does nothing for his trade value, and the Red Wings already can’t find a taker at the price they’re asking.
The trade request came on June 4. Steve Yzerman waited on an offer that never arrived, and Chris Ilitch moved him into an advisory role last month. Shawn Horcoff is running hockey operations in the meantime without the authority to trade anybody.
Here’s the state of things from a Detroit fan’s chair:
Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News reported this week that the growing sense inside the organization is Larkin reports to camp if he hasn’t been moved, and that he probably won’t be. Whoever Ilitch hires is not going to have time to put together a franchise-altering deal in five weeks.
Then there’s what Detroit loses without him. Larkin scored 34 goals and finished with 67 points last season, second and third on the team.
Patrick Kane went back to Chicago in free agency and James van Riemsdyk is still unsigned, which puts roughly 65 goals on the missing list for a roster that badly needed offense.
Not every Red Wings fan is pointing the anger at the captain:
That frustration was aimed at Yzerman and a playoff drought that’s now ten years old. A new general manager with a different plan could change how Larkin feels about the place. Until somebody with trade authority is actually in the building, his next move is pulling the Winged Wheel back over his head.
