MAJOR Larkin trade report... Trade is IMMINENT

This afternoon, the Detroit Red Wings released a statement that would have sounded insane a year ago, that their former captain, who wore the C for five years and the best player on this franchise in probably the last 10 plus years and their best forward as of today will no longer play a game in a Detroit Red Wings jersey. Detroit's answer was to suspend Dylan Larkin without pay. That's $41,237.11 gone for every day he sits. And read the rest of that statement, because this isn't a goodbye, it's basically this team saying, yeah, we need to continue doing our due diligence, trying to make a trade happen, and just trying to make these negotiations go somewhere, and right now, they're kind of in a standoff, and Dylan Larkin took it into his own hands to kind of say, hey, let's move this along, I've just seen it work for Connor Hellebuyck, so why don't I try it. In this video, we're going to talk about how Dylan Larkin got here, what kind of a price that Detroit would get back for Dylan Larkin, and the 10 teams that can actually trade for him that are on his no trade list. It started this morning. Todd McClellan told reporters Larkin would not play against Chicago tonight, and that interim GM Sean Horcoff would address the situation. Then Elliot Friedman added the part that changed everything. It sounds like the current plan is for Larkin to not play until he is traded. TSN's Pierre LeBrun then reported that trade talks have escalated and that there were talks between Larkin's camp and the Red Wings last night and again this morning. At 3:15, his agent Pat Brisson said it plainly, Dylan's had enough of that situation. So notice what it is. It isn't about a matter of ice time. It isn't a matter about him dealing with an injury. It's him solely sitting until to force the hand of the Detroit Red Wings to trade him. And you can't say he's slumping his way out. Two goals and six points in 10 games this season is 21 minutes, 41 seconds a night. Last year, he had 34 goals and 67 points in 74 games. Even last Monday, he scored a late-tying goal against Edmonton. That might have been his last game in a Red Wings jersey after 818 games in Detroit and a career total of 278 goals. And Detroit is 5-4-3 on the season. They just made an emergency call-up in Sheldon Dries from Grand Rapids, and that's what a team looks like when their top center walks out. This did not start today. It started in June when Larkin asked Detroit for a trade after the Red Wings missed the playoffs for a 10th straight season. Steve Yzerman confirmed the request after the draft. He said there were no guarantees he'd grant it because Larkin had five years left on his contract. Then on July 15th, Yzerman moved to a senior advisor role. Larkin's mind didn't change. Before training camp, Detroit stripped the captaincy from Larkin and he held it since the 2020-21 season. In September, owner Chris Ilitch was asked if Larkin could stay all season. His answer, quote, yes, he could be here all year. When he finally came back, it was rough. He was scratched on opening night and heavily booed. Then back on October the 8th, he was booed again until a power play goal, an assist, and a first star honors and a 5-3 win over Ottawa. So how does a player that won the fans back on October the 6th end up suspended on October 29th? It's because the request didn't go away. He was hoping that he was still going to be traded during the season It just seems like no talks were moving at this point, and he took matters into his own hands, and he opened his list up to 10 teams during that time, and there was still no word on a trade happening. It's been months since that request, and the only thing that's moved is a former captain not playing. Here's what makes this harder than it sounds. Horkoff's statement says any trade needs Larkin's approval, and it also has to be in the best interests of the Detroit Red Wings and support the organization's long-term goals. In translation, Larkin gets to veto any team that does offer a trade for him and on the other side for Horkov, they don't want to accept a trade that they don't think is fair value. So one side took it into their own hands to make the other, you know, obviously get a little bit more stressed and that was Larkin. He obviously said, hey, I'm not playing here. I want to be traded. I've seen it work for somebody else. So let's make it work for me too. And let's think about who's on the other end of those calls, too. Right now, Detroit only has an interim GM, and that's Sean Horkoff, and they don't even have a captain, so they're kind of in shambles right now. Ilitch says he wants an innovative difference maker who can build a championship-caliber organization, and the hire could happen this season or after it. So we have a GM here or interim GM who has to make an organization altering trade and then whoever comes in after him, which will be the full-time GM, will have to inherit that and have to work with it at this point. I think that they were hoping that they were going to have a full-time GM before making such big of a move, but right now, I think their hand is forced. So what does Detroit want? Darren Dreger reports that they don't want a return built mainly on draft picks. They need a couple of real NHL players in the deal. Heavy reports it as a top six forward and significant futures, and there's a catch here. Detroit has the longest playoff drought of anyone on this list, so it doesn't want to wait on prospects. His contract makes that harder, $8.7 million a year through the 2030-31 season, which means whoever gets him needs real cap space or has to send salary back. So what has a team like this actually paid for a center? There are two benchmarks. The ceiling is Jack Eichel. Buffalo got Alex Tuck, Peyton Krebs, and a conditional first and second for him. The floor is JT Miller. Vancouver got Philip Hedl, Victor Mancini, and a conditional first. Larkin is 30 and has 278 goals, and that is the range Detroit is negotiating in. And like we said, in recent times, Connor Hellebuck just sat until he was traded and then the end of his suspension, the last day of his suspension, he got traded. So there is a timeline here for Detroit to work on and they need to move things fast because they've just seen how fast things can go for Winnipeg when they had to trade Connor Hellebuck. Now the part you came for. Larkin's list is Minnesota, Florida, and Vegas, which was the original three, plus Carolina, Colorado, Dallas, New Jersey, Tampa Bay, Utah, and Washington. Start with the team that has been after him the longest. LeBron says Minnesota has made the most trade offers to Detroit since June. They need a true number one center, and Larkin would slot in next to Joel Eriksson-Ek. The problem is what's in the cupboard. And right now, they're floating around Daniil Gerasimov, who is definitely their best trade piece at this point. But they lost a lot in that Quinn Hughes trade now. They had to figure out how they would make this deal happen. But I think they could put a trade together. The score has Utah at number one. They have one of the NHL's best farm systems, and Bleacher Report points to Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley, and Dylan Gunther already on the roster. Their GM, Bill Armstrong, has made a big move in each of his last three seasons, and Utah has more cap flexibility than most teams on the list. The way it could work is Utah has a young core piece in Keller, Cooley, and Gunther, and defensemen Mikhail Sergachev and Mackenzie Weiger. Add prospects like Dmitriy Simashev and Caleb DeNooyer, and they can give Detroit both players and the future. Number two is Carolina, because they can take the $8.7 million without sending salary back. They have four first-round picks over the next three years, and Alexander Nikishin could be a centerpiece if he'll sign in Detroit. And to Darren Dreger's point, they want players and not picks. And Carolina could really only offer them a bunch of picks here. Then New Jersey. Jordan Schmaltz says Larkin is headed there. That's a single outlet. So treat it as a rumor. This is coming from the same guy that said Patrick Kane was going to be a Buffalo Sabre last year. So treat that as it is. But James Nichols reports the Devils have been in contact with Horkov. The problem is the cap. The Devils just landed Hellebuyck and have under $120,000 worth of room. Arseni Gritsyuk at $3.25 million, or Brendan Dillon at $4 million would have to go out. Tampa Bay is the sneaky one. They just have over $3 million of cap space, and a line of Braden Point, Larkin, and Anthony Cirelli would be elite. But there are four more years on his deal after this one, and Tampa has Kucherov to think about. Washington would be lurking for Dylan Strome, a $5 million cap hit that covers more than half of his money. TSN says Washington looks unlikely, and that's before you remember Detroit wants more than Strome. The other three are stuck. Vegas has under $500,000 of cap room, Colorado has no first round pick until 2029, and Florida's only real chip is Anton Lundell, who they don't want to move. Dallas is the one to watch next summer. Tyler Seguin's $9.85 million comes off after this season. So a trade gets way easier then. This season, it's near impossible. One more team I do want to mention is the Montreal Canadiens. Because we've seen in the Bell Centre when they played Detroit, the fans were chanting, We want Larkin! And, you know, we thought that this could have made Larkin have a change of heart and want to come to Canada. But TSN reports that he has no interest in coming to a Canadian team. Here's my read. Minnesota is the team that wants him, but Utah is the team that can really afford him, and Detroit still needs a real player back in this deal. If Bill Guerin is willing to give up a roster player like Danila Yurov who could really help Detroit's future, this deal could get done in a couple of weeks, but if they're not willing to do that, I think Utah is the best suitor. And keep an eye on the clock, because the trade deadline is March the 1st, which is 123 days away, and every day that Larkin now sits at home, he's losing just over $41,000. So, you know, these things are going to move fast. I mean, this is news that just broke today, so I expect that trade talks will pick up over the next couple of weeks, and I do suspect him to be traded within the next two. And if you made it this far in the video, go down below, hit that subscribe button for the latest around the NHL. It's completely free to do so. So where does Larkin land? Is it the Wild, or the Devils, or is it even Utah? I'd love to hear from you guys down below in the comments.