Dylan Larkin and the Detroit Red Wings are stuck in a trade standoff, and a podcast idea just handed both sides a real possible workaround.
Larkin asked out at his exit interview, and he'd reportedly prefer landing with the Wild, Stars, Golden Knights, or Panthers.
None of those four teams have offered Detroit what it wants in return, and the talks have gone quiet since this summer's trade request.
Larkin is coming off a 67-point season, 34 goals and 33 assists in 74 games, on an $8,700,000 cap hit that still has term left on it.
Down in Anaheim, the Ducks have their own mess.
They just signed Leo Carlsson to a massive five-year, $90 million contract on July 3, 2026, carrying an $18 million annual cap hit through the end of the 2030-31 season.
That deal reportedly leaves Anaheim without enough cap space to sign restricted free agent Cutter Gauthier, creating a serious problem for a team trying to build around its young core.
Gauthier scored 41 goals and put up 69 points in 76 games last season, numbers that make him one of the more valuable RFAs sitting unsigned right now.
How a podcast idea turned into a real trade conversation
On a recent episode of What Chaos, co-host Pete Blackburn floated swapping Larkin straight up for Gauthier.
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It's speculation, not a reported offer from either team. But it's the kind of speculation that actually lines up with what both sides need.
Detroit would get a goal-scorer still just 22 years old, plugging directly into the middle-six behind its current top players.
Anaheim would get a proven number-two center to slot behind Carlsson, freeing up the cap room that Carlsson's new deal ate into.
Would the Ducks also need a defenseman coming back the other way to make this work? Almost certainly, and neither team has floated names publicly.
This idea makes sense on paper for both franchises, which is usually exactly when a trade takes months longer than anyone expects.
Training camp is closing in fast, and if Larkin is still wearing a Red Wings sweater when it opens, that alone tells you how stuck this situation really is.
Should the Red Wings trade Dylan Larkin straight up for Cutter Gauthier?
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