Reports of Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin wanting out of Detroit created a stir around the NHL late last week.
An update Monday has been a bit of a “buzzkill” — for now.
The bombshell that dropped last Thursday afternoon ahead of an epic Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final in Raleigh had every fan base — with the exception of Detroit, of course — salivating over the idea of the speedy centre winding up in their team’s jersey.
Jets Nation was right there in the land of dreaming about “what if” Winnipeg somehow wound up being that team who cashed in on the Dylan Larkin sweepstakes.
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Then came a report from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press that Larkin’s wish list is narrowed down to Florida, Vegas and Minnesota.
None are a surprise, all are Stanley Cup Contenders. But an ultra restricted market doesn’t give Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman much to work with to receive fair compensation for an established 30-goal scorer and 70-point producer over the past five seasons.
Unless of course, one of the Panthers, Golden Knights or Wild surprise everyone and submit an offer Yzerman can’t refuse.
Let’s remember: to this point, there has been no confirmation from any of the main participants, so there’s still time for Larkin’s list to be expanded — as it probably will need to be if the player and his agent Pat Brisson are serious about getting a deal done.
A summer of “massive change” in the National Hockey League has been in the forecast for a while.
And Larkin’s trade request could still ignite the kind of chaos one would expect almost every NHL GM and market to desperately want to be a part of.
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