While Detroit Red Wings Center Dylan Larkin has yet to find a different NHL home, Sportsnet journalist and NHL insider Elliotte Friedman believes Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman will try to make Larkin’s stay even longer.

"I think Yzerman wants current players for Larkin,” the Insider said on the July 6 episode of 32 Thoughts. "I think he believes that very strongly (that the playoff drought can't continue). He doesn’t just want futures. I think if he wanted futures, this deal would be done already."

The Red Wings captain hoped to land with the Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild or Vegas Golden Knights a month before free agency. But according to Friedman, Yzerman doesn’t really want compensatory prospects from a Larkin trade to build the future. He wants contenders right away.

Things are complicated because none of Larkin’s shortlisted teams can offer what Yzerman is looking for. Vegas traded their star winger Pavel Dorofeyev to the New York Rangers; Florida doesn’t seem interested in trading their captain, Aleksander Barkov, or other key centres; neither does the Wild.

So, this leaves Larkin with two choices. He can either stay at Detroit or add more teams to his shortlist. If the captain wants to change homes, he’d have to work with the GM who is trying to end Detroit’s 10-year playoff drought.

But then the question remains: will the GM actually start the season with Larkin, knowing the rift in the locker room and fanbase?

Will Steve Yzerman Start the Season With Dylan Larkin 

According to the 97.1FM Ticket’s writer Will Burchfield, Larkin’s return with Detroit while his trade request is no longer a secret will be a tough one. But Friedman believed that there are chances of Yzerman doing exactly that.

“I’m not convinced that Yzerman wants to start the season with this distraction," Friedman said in the same podcast episode. “But I also believe that he thinks that no trade is better than a bad trade… And I had a few people say to me, 'Don’t underestimate it, he’ll do it.'”

The scene may look jittery, but the doors still haven’t been entirely closed on Detroit’s Captain. But ultimately, it depends on what new shortlist he comes up with and how Yzerman scrutinizes them this time.

What do you think awaits Larkin? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Deblina Roy