Everything just comepletely changed...

Nikita Kucherov's trade request just completely changed everything, not just for the NHL, but for the Detroit Red Wings, as he has officially requested a trade out of one of the Atlantic Division's best teams. And now many fans are starting to speculate what this means for the Red Wings, how likely it is that Dylan Larkin gets traded now because all eyes are now on one of the best players in the entire, not just NHL, world at this point. We're going to break that down, including some fans speculating. could they actually be traded for each other? We're going to break that all down and much more in this episode of Red Wings Digest. But before we get into all of that, a quick reminder to hit that subscribe button. We've noticed that a large percentage of you guys who watch these videos on a daily basis are not subscribed to the channel. So if you want to stay up to date with everything that's going on with the Red Wings, from trade rumors to trade reports to post-game reactions to everything that's happening with some of the younger players on this team, make sure you are subscribed to the channel. Thank you so much. For now, over 6,000 subscribers. But Mark, let's get right into it. Nikita Kucherov, in a shocking move late last night, officially requested a trade from the Tampa Bay Lightning and said that he will not be resigning. Now, a lot of it could be a leverage play, of course. A lot of it could be, you know, Through the media, we'll get into what Julian Breeze was said out of Tampa Bay as well, where he said, we're absolutely not looking to trade him. But apparently from Elliot Friedman, he will not be resigning in Tampa Bay. They're too far apart in a contract. I wonder if some of this is a play to get more money out of the Tampa Bay Lightning as well. But he has officially requested a trade. Now it goes a little bit further. He is literally. One of the best players in the league, probably what, like a top three player in the entire league for whoever gets him. I know he's a little bit older now. He's not even that old, like he's 33. He's still in his prime, but he is a little bit older if you want to sign him long term. But this trade request, and I want your thoughts on this, Mark, completely changes the market for Dylan Larkin now because This is the best player available now. You could argue that it was Dylan Larkin 24 hours ago, but now Nikita Kucherov is the best player. So everyone is gunning with all of their assets, and it's probably roughly the same-ish list of teams that Dylan Larkin had. They're all rushing to the table to try and get a trade like this done rather than Dylan Larkin. With Nikita Kucherov as well, I like to think that this is a farewell from the Tampa organization because he was on the plane and reportedly told each and every teammate that he was going to put this request in. So it's not something you probably do if you're just looking for leverage through the media with your agent. So there's a strong chance and what people kind of bat their eyes at. This guy had 130 points just last year. One of the best offensive players, not only of Of the past 10 years, the past 15. This is one of the best offensive players of all time hitting the market, and now that truly puts Dylan Larkin on the back burner. Now, of course, teams are still going to value Dylan Larkin, a centerman over a winger, a guy that's term on his contract, and someone that's going to go out there and at least play a bit of a two-way game. We know Cooch is not going to do that, but... You can't find better offense, and genuinely, this is probably one of the best players to ever hit the open market, especially if a team's saying, hey, let's just go out and get a rental for a playoff run. There's probably no better player ever, but now looking at this series. With Kucherov, it opens up a lot of interesting doors. Teams are going to start looking at this guy more than probably Dylan Larkin, which puts you in an awkward situation of, hey, we had offers on the table. Did some of those get retracted over the past couple of days? Did this open up a situation where now Dylan Larkin has to sit for an extended period of time? I think this is one of the things where it shows waiting doesn't help this organization. And guess what? They waited too long on Larkin. Yeah, you can see the advanced analytics Both of them, like you mentioned, you know, Dylan Larkin, he could still be a hot commodity as a center, of course, but in almost every single category, Kucherov's a better player. And he's just like an elite offensive talent, one of the best players in the league. Like you said, you can't find better offense. You could if you're trading for Connor McDavid, but you're not, right? Like he's not available. You literally cannot find better offense than this in the entire National Hockey League. This is genuinely actually pretty shocking. Now, one thing that I want to propose and that I saw out there a little bit as well. Wow. First of all, let's go to this, because it kind of plays into what I'm about to say. The belief is that Kucherov has his eyes set on playing with a superstar. Now, what do you classify as a superstar? I think Mo Seider, in terms of defensemen, is right there. He's very close. I think he could be considered a top five defenseman in the league, in my eyes. And since we started the channel, we've talked about him like he's a top five defenseman in the league, because truly, he is. He's right there. He's a horse, right? Now, is it him that he's talking about? I don't know about that. The Red Wings certainly have the cap space to make this work if they wanted to, you know, heading into next season. And would you take Kucherov over Dylan Larkin? Your center depth would be a little thin, but yes, yes, I would. So he has his eyes set to playing with a superstar. Could that be Connor McDavid in Edmonton? I don't know how that works with the cap. Could that be Macklin Celebrini? That would be very interesting. Could it be Austin Matthews in Toronto? There's so many different names you can throw out there, but maybe it's Mo Seider. Now, the one thing I wanted to bring up is Mark. What if they're traded for each other? Tampa is on Dylan Larkin's trade list, right? We learned that a little while ago. So what if it's a one-for-one? Maybe you throw some other stuff in there if the cap works, but it's very close. He makes $9.5 million this year. If he does come with a contract extension, you would have to make sure, and I think the Red Wings actually would be okay. There is a new tagging rule in the NHL, so you would have to make sure you have the available cap space next season when acquiring a player. So I think they would actually be okay with this because Larkin would be coming off the books. Um... But then what does that new contract extension look like? It's 15, 16, 17. Apparently he wants 20 million. He turned down 15 million. But Mark, does a one-for-one trade make sense to you? Because I actually think it makes a lot of sense for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Well, we're losing Nikita Kucherov, but we can add in a 30-year-old Dylan Larkin who can play center. That wouldn't be bad asset management from either side, to be honest. And with Tampa, they'd get a centerman that, again, is under contract and they're not going to pay $20 million to. But my biggest worry now is Kucherov looking at Detroit, taking this offer, being traded, and then not resigning, especially with the way we've seen this team handle the current UFAs or RFAs or whatever they've done this season, which wasn't much when it When it comes to the market like that, but. This is a guy I'm interested to see. Listen, if you add Kucherov, that accelerates this team immediately. You're a team that's going to, of course, make it in the Atlantic Division into the playoffs. A team that could probably do it without Kucherov, but again... You had a guy that just came off a 130-point season. That completely fixes your five-on-five. Your power play is solid, but this makes it 10 times better. This is a player that genuinely changes the entire landscape of whatever team he goes to. But one thing, Darius, and I'm kind of looking at social media and seeing a lot of people kind of talk about it. We know there's a lot of talk of Montreal all being super in on Dylan Larkin or just any star talent. Is there a possible three-team where Larkin goes to Tampa, they get their boy, Montreal's package goes for Kucherov, and then the rest of the assets go straight to Detroit in this trade where, of course, it'd be futures. But hey, you get involved and Montreal gives up some premium players. And of course, you come out of this with Dylan Larkin off the team. I saw some comments yesterday saying, are those players even available? We were talking about getting those first-round picks from Minnesota and flipping them, right? Going and getting players. And teams don't value first-round picks that are late-round picks. They still value them. They're first-round picks. They're not like a top-ten pick, obviously, but what top-ten pick is being flipped right now, right? Like, when has that really ever happened? I mean, maybe it has. Let me know in the comments below. Maybe I'm missing something. But I think that it's possible, too. Definitely a three-team trade. I think it's possible. I think Montreal's definitely in the market for a player like that. Again, keep in mind the tagging rule, right? Like, Montreal would probably have to move a little bit of salary, depending what Kucherov's contract extension looks like. It also mentioned a superstar. No disrespect to the Montreal Canadiens. They have a great, well-built team, but I don't know if I would classify any of them as like superstars, right? Maybe Cole Caulfield, that could be interesting, especially with their play styles. But to me, Kucherov, what he brings to the table, Detroit should probably be all over this at this point. It's good asset management. And by the way, the one thing that's lost in all of this, and when I say lost, I mean in the mainstream media, we've been talking about on the channel. This team is not bad. This team isn't bad. If you added Kucherov to this team, I could absolutely see them making the playoffs, right? I could absolutely see them making the playoffs. And that's even with trading John Gibson, if you wanted to run with Tarasov and Askarov, right? So, I don't know. I think it's very interesting that, you know, this has all happened at the same time. These are like... high quality players and it's crazy. Now, the one thing with Kucherov is he's not pulling a Dylan Larkin. He's not going to quit on the team. He's not going to go home. He's not going to walk away. He said, I'm going to play with you guys for a while until you figure out a trade, but let's figure out a trade before the end of the season, obviously before the trade deadline too. So, um... It's pretty interesting. You can see I have every reason to believe that he's going to remain an elite player well into his 30s. It's his play style too, Mark. He's not a reckless player, right? Like he is such a smart player. He makes the puck move for him. So it's an interesting idea. I think the Red Wings should be involved in this somehow. Like you mentioned, maybe it's a three-team trade. Maybe it's a one-for-one swap. I think you should be involved somehow because this absolutely affects the trade market for Dylan Larkin. And I want to know everyone's thoughts down in the comments, too. Have we ever seen a season like this where Brady Kachuk, Connor Hellebuyck, Dylan Larkin, and now Kucherov, that is talent that we've never seen hit this market. It's a new president, of course, to the NHL. But my final thoughts on this, if Kucherov's available, if you can make a swap, of course, the whole Chris Ilitch wanting to save money, which speculation hasn't been reported yet. But let's be honest with the way the team's being handled. If they're willing to actually pay this guy and not go out and get him and lose him for nothing I'd love to have this player. Think of this guy with DeBrincat or with Lucas Raymond or anyone. He makes someone a hell of a player. He probably turns Finnley into a 90-point player, to be honest, at this point. This is a guy that changes your landscape. And if you want to go forth this year and this team is dedicated to not retooling, there's no better player that's ever going to hit that market, Darius. And this is the one thing that I've seen. I want to wrap with this because I've seen this out there. Like, oh, be careful if you're acquiring him. He's 33. 33 is not old, right? Worry about it when he's, like, 37, 38. Especially with his play style, he can keep going for a while. Even this season, and it's not just one year last year that he had a good year with 103 points, like you mentioned. It's every single season he's getting over 100 points, and he's in the heart conversation, and he's in all these, like, individual trophy conversations. And then he's also won Stanley Cups. He has that pedigree. And he's, like, an insane person out there in the playoffs where he is a monster, like, on and off the puck, right? So he, and maybe not defensively, but you know what I mean? Like the intimidation factor, like he's a little bit crazy, right? Like you need that in the playoffs to win. So, um, this is certainly something I'll tell you that. And even this season over a point per game player still this year. So, um, it's pretty crazy. And, and Tampa, you can see they're kind of on the downward, like they're still a great team. It's in part due to him, of course, but they're kind of on that downturn in terms of, you know, uh, you saw the fruits of your label for the Stanley Cups, all that stuff to trade all those picks, traded some prospects, some great players. They're kind of on the way out, I think, in terms of contention. So very, very interesting stuff. Let us know how you feel about everything we discussed in the comments below. Would you do a one-for-one swap with those two? Tampa doesn't have much of an option here, and I think Larkin wants to go there, right? So, like, they're on the list. So I think it's a very real possibility. The ball might just be in Nikita Kucherov's court.