- Red Wings open training camp Sept. 17 with no general manager hired
- Dylan Larkin’s June trade request is still sitting there unresolved
- Read below for the CBA deadline that could cost Detroit a year on Simon Edvinsson’s next deal
Detroit opens training camp on Sept. 17 without a general manager.
Steve Yzerman stepped down as general manager and executive vice president on July 15 and moved into a senior adviser role under governor Chris Ilitch. Six weeks later the Red Wings still have not named a replacement, and camp is 16 days out.
That vacancy stings because of the captain. Dylan Larkin requested a trade in early June and has never rescinded it, which means Detroit is set to hand a brand new executive a franchise-altering call within days of hiring him.
Kyle Bukauskas asked Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts whether Larkin’s request still stands.
“I think it does for now, because we’ll see what the new [GM] comes in and says and how Larkin feels.”
NHL Network gave the same question a full segment last week. Check out what Tony Luftman and the NHL Tonight crew made of Detroit’s options:
A second clock is running too. Simon Edvinsson remains an unsigned restricted free agent, and the new collective bargaining agreement takes effect Sept. 16. After that date, the maximum term on a re-signing drops from eight years to seven.
So Detroit has one day before camp opens to lock up its best young defenseman on an eight-year deal, and no one in the chair to negotiate it.
September is otherwise mapped out. The Red Wings host a four-team prospect tournament Sept. 12-15 at Little Caesars Arena’s BELFOR Training Center, with Columbus, Pittsburgh and Dallas sending groups. Main camp runs Sept. 17-20, the preseason opens Sept. 21 in Columbus, and the regular season starts Oct. 2 at home against the Rangers.
None of that changes where the team actually sits. Detroit has missed the playoffs 10 years running, the longest active drought in the league.
The collapse last season made it worse. Detroit was third in the Atlantic at the Olympic break, nine points clear of Ottawa, then went 8-12-4 the rest of the way and finished seven behind the Senators.
Whoever takes the GM job inherits Larkin’s trade request, Edvinsson’s contract and a roster that fell apart in March, with the first practice already on the calendar.
