A monster Dylan Larkin trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs is inevitable
Dylan Larkin grew up a Leafs fan and counts Auston Matthews as a close friend. Toronto noticed.
A post from fan account Villain Era made the rounds Wednesday pushing exactly that, and it landed in the middle of a trade saga that's getting hotter by the hour.
The claim is simple, with the post framing Larkin one of Matthews' best friends.
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Take the sourcing for what it is. But the fit conversation underneath it is real, and it's worth having.
Toronto just stumbled to a 32-36-14 finish, dead last in its division, closing the year on a seven-game slide. That collapse comes with a silver lining: a high draft pick.
Which is where the wild scenario enters. If Toronto ends up drafting Gavin McKenna, some fans are already floating him as the centerpiece that pries Larkin out of Detroit.
Larkin owned the Leafs all season and Toronto knows it
Here's the part that should sting in Toronto. Detroit swept the season series, all four games, including two overtime losses where the Leafs couldn't close.
Larkin saw this roster up close four times and beat it four times. Now imagine him in the middle of it instead.
The need is obvious. Matthews was held to 60 games this season and finished with 53 points. Behind him, John Tavares carried second-line center duty at age 35.
Tavares produced, 31 goals is no joke, but a minus-28 rating tells you what those minutes looked like territorially.
Larkin at 29, coming off 34 goals, slots into that hole and instantly changes the team's spine. Matthews and Larkin down the middle is a playoff matchup nightmare.
Would Steve Yzerman trade his captain to a team Detroit just went 4-0 against? That's the awkward dance. Rivals rarely do each other favors.
And trading a McKenna-level asset for a 29-year-old would be the boldest swing this franchise has taken in a generation. Bold isn't always smart.
Friendship gets players interested. It doesn't get deals done. The price does, and Toronto hasn't even won the right to pay it yet.
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 4, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Brett Howden | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mark Jankowski | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mark Stone | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Noah Hanifin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Jackson Blake | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||