Dylan Larkin's name keeps getting tossed around, but the Wild aren't close to landing him, not even close.
According to Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic, it's going to take a third team for Minnesota to make a deal with Detroit work.
The issue is simple. The Wild don't have the trade chips the Red Wings actually covet.
Michael Russo & Joe Smith: It feels like, at this point, it's going to take a third team to get involved for the Wild to get a Dylan Larkin deal done since they don't have the trade assets/chips the Red Wings covet.
That's a problem when your big offseason target plays for a Red Wings front office run by Steve Yzerman, a guy who doesn't blink in trade talks.
Larkin posted 67 points in 74 games this past season, with 34 goals and a +3 rating. Over his last 10 games, he produced 11 points and went minus-3.
His five-game stretch told a different story: 9 points, four goals, five assists. That's a player heating up, not cooling off.
Detroit finished 41-31-10 under Todd McLellan, good for 92 points but a sixth-place finish in the division. The Red Wings dropped both head-to-head meetings against Minnesota this year, including an overtime loss in October.
Why Minnesota needs a third team in the mix
Minnesota, by contrast, closed at 46-24-12 under John Hynes, a 104-point season and a seventh-place ranking league-wide. GM Bill Guerin clearly wants more firepower up front, and Larkin fits that need at age 29.
But wanting a player and having the assets to get him are two different things. Right now, the Wild are stuck in that gap.
Larkin carries a cap hit of $8,700,000. That's not pocket change, and any third team entering this deal needs to absorb real money or real value, not just bodies.
Think of it like trying to buy a house you can't afford alone. You need a partner with capital, not just enthusiasm.
This rumor isn't new, but the framing from Russo and Smith makes it feel more stuck than ever. Detroit isn't desperate. Minnesota is.
Until a third team steps up with something Detroit actually wants, this is just noise. Loud noise, sure. But noise.
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The bigger question for Wild fans: does ownership let Guerin get creative here, or does this stall out completely heading into the summer?
Should the Wild walk away from the Dylan Larkin trade talks entirely?
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