- Chris Johnston says Shawn Horcoff feels pressure to “hit a home run” on a Larkin deal
- Johnston says no deals are on the table with the 10 teams on Larkin’s list
- Read below for what Johnston said about Simon Edvinsson and the Dec. 1 deadline
Dylan Larkin is still sitting at home, and the Red Wings’ interim GM is a big reason why.
TSN’s Chris Johnston said on Thursday’s Insider Trading that teams talking with Detroit believe Shawn Horcoff is auditioning for the full-time job. Johnston was asked why the Larkin deal is taking so long.
“Shawn Horcoff is the interim general manager,” Johnston said. “From speaking to some of the teams that have engaged with Detroit in trade talks, there is a feeling he’s got to hit a home run with these deals, that he’s auditioning for the full-time job.”
Johnston was careful to say it isn’t a shot at Horcoff. He said it was “brought up to me not as a point of criticism of Horcoff, but just the reality.”
There was no movement to report this week. Johnston said there’s no real substantial update on Larkin, and that deals aren’t on the table with the 10 teams Larkin gave the Red Wings.
Horcoff already talked about how hard this is to pull off at his Oct. 29 press conference, where he addressed the suspension and the trade search:
Detroit tried to widen the field. The Red Wings asked Larkin to expand his list, and his camp said no, as we covered in our post on the Brisson response. Our graphic had the teams Detroit wanted to add:
Simon Edvinsson is stuck in the same slow lane. Johnston said the unsigned defenseman probably won’t see movement until the Dec. 1 signing deadline. The Sharks made a serious Edvinsson offer, according to Elliotte Friedman.
Insider David Pagnotta said he was given U.S. Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, as the point where one side starts to budge, per our Pagnotta post. That leaves Horcoff about three weeks to find his home run.
