Dylan Larkin's exit from Detroit has a familiar fingerprint on it, and it points back to a divorce the Red Wings went through in 2003.
George Malik flagged the parallel. Both Sergei Fedorov's departure from Detroit in 2003 and Larkin's impending exit in 2026 run through the same person.
That person is Pat Brisson. He was Fedorov's agent. He's Larkin's agent now. "Take that for what you will," Malik wrote.
It's the kind of detail that means everything or nothing, depending on how superstitious you are about history repeating.
But the agent angle is real, and it matters more than fans usually credit.
Malik promised a deeper piece, and the seed he planted is hard to shake.
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Then Lars Thorsell expanded the picture, and the scope got bigger fast.
Per Thorsell, Brisson also represents the Hughes brothers, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jason Robertson, Trevor Zegras, Elias Pettersson and Jack Eichel. "There's a theme here," he wrote, "just can't put my finger on it."
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Brisson's stable runs from the Hughes brothers to Eichel
That client list is the whole point. Brisson sits among the most powerful agents in the sport, with a roster of stars who tend to hold real leverage.
When your agent reps that many marquee names, you negotiate from strength. Teams know it. General managers feel it across the table.
Tie it back to Larkin and the dots connect. A captain who handed Detroit a short list of approved destinations is a captain whose camp is steering the outcome.
That's agent power in action, and it's the modern reality of how stars move. The player holds the leverage, and the agent knows exactly how to use it.
Here's my read: the Fedorov echo is more vibe than blueprint. History doesn't actually repeat just because the same name is on the paperwork.
Still, the person negotiating shapes these exits as much as the player does. Brisson has steered franchise centerpieces out of Detroit before, and that's not a comforting thought for Steve Yzerman.
Where Brisson points Larkin next is the question that matters. The ghost of 2003 is just the backdrop.
And if there's a theme in that client list, it's simple. The best players have the best leverage, and the right agent turns that into an exit on the player's terms.
Does the agent behind a star matter as much as the player in these trades?
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