Four months into his trade request, Dylan Larkin is still a Detroit Red Wing, though the former captain has expanded his trade list twice since the start of training camp and the regular season.
Last month insider Elliotte Friedman reported that Larkin had expanded his list from an initially reported three team list to eight, though no details were officially confirmed by either Larkin or interim-GM Shawn Horcoff in the time since.
Red Wings lines: projected lineup and starting goalie →
DetroitHockeyNow was able to confirm today that Larkin’s list has expanded once more, to a ten-team trade list, though could not get direct confirmation on the exact teams in play, though our source did confirm no team north of US border is currently in contention (sorry Montreal).
Mixed signals
While rumors of Larkin’s trade being imminent and an expanded list point to the ball slowly beginning to roll on actual movement for the disgruntled center, Red Wings senior vice president Jim Devellano said on a recent podcast appearance that he and some of the rest of the team’s upper brass had ‘kissed and made up.’
“As I’ve said to Larkin personally, let bygones be bygones.” Devellano said on his appearance on the “Ozzy and Keats” podcast.
The latest update seems to point to Larkin trying to say goodbye instead, though Devellano did also reveal that Horcoff had made efforts to repair the relationship as manager as well.
So far Larkin has five points in his seven games on the year after returning from an offseason upper body injury that kept him from full hockey activities for much of the preseason. In a somewhat limited sample size, the Red Wings have looked decidedly better with Larkin on the ice for them than without.
They have had to switch around the deployment of their forwards in a few games, moving Larkin’s line off the top to try and help them generate offense, though he still leads team forwards in average TOI for the year.
For the moment, it appears that Larkin is here to stay.