Dylan Larkin's future is suddenly at the center of the fallout from Steve Yzerman's exit as Red Wings general manager.
Hockey insider Anthony Di Marco says the timing was no coincidence, according to comments he made this Wednesday about Detroit's front office shakeup.
Di Marco says he spoke with one general manager who framed part of Yzerman's dismissal around trying to keep Larkin in Detroit for the long haul.
He made those comments on the Campbell vs Gallo podcast Monday, describing it as an attempt to smooth the path toward retaining Detroit's captain.
Anthony Di Marco: Re Steve Yzerman dismissal/Red Wings: I thoroughly believe, and speaking with one general manager...that this was in part, on Detroit's angle, to try and get Dylan Larkin to stay...[or] at least make the process a little smoother.
Larkin was excellent this season, finishing with 67 points for Detroit while carrying a cap hit of $8,700,000.
Recent form only adds weight to the report. Over his last 10 games, Larkin racked up 11 points.
Zoom into his last five and it's just as strong, 9 points, nothing close to a player mailing it in before a contract fight.
Detroit's rough finish raises the stakes on Larkin's future
Detroit closed the season at 41-31-10, good for 16th overall.
That's only sixth in their own division, hardly the kind of finish that buys patience from ownership.
Todd McLellan has run the bench since December 26, 2024, hired mid-season during Detroit's last coaching change.
Now he's operating without the GM who helped bring him in and build that stability.
If Di Marco's read holds up, the Larkin question was already shaping decisions in the front office before any formal move came down.
That's a strange way for a GM to exit, tangled up in his captain's next contract instead of a finished rebuild.
Is trying to protect a captain's future really grounds for pushing out the man who built the roster around him? Depends who you ask inside that Detroit locker room.
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Whatever the real reasoning turns out to be, Larkin now sits at the center of a search for Detroit's next GM, his name tied to the very explanation for why the last one left.
Should the Red Wings have kept Yzerman even if it meant losing Larkin down the road?
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