{"id":473312,"date":"2026-02-26T16:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/473312\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T16:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:52:12","slug":"dylan-larkin-wins-olympic-gold-aims-for-stanley-cup-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/473312\/","title":{"rendered":"Dylan Larkin wins Olympic gold, aims for Stanley Cup next"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Red Wings<\/a> haven\u2019t qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2016. It\u2019s the longest postseason drought in franchise history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But they\u2019re on the verge of snapping that streak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Wings stand in third place in the NHL\u2019s Atlantic Division as they enter the final 24 games of the regular season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The golden boy returns<\/p>\n

The last time they reached the playoffs, Dylan Larkin was a rookie. Today, he\u2019s the team captain. He\u2019s also an Olympic champion.<\/p>\n

The U.S. men\u2019s national hockey team<\/a> beat Canada 2-1 in overtime in the gold medal game of the 2026 Winter Games in Italy. Larkin was on the ice when teammate Jack Hughes scored the game-winning goal.<\/p>\n

Detroit Free Press<\/a> hockey writer Helene St. James spoke with Larkin after the emotional contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was probably a good 45 minutes after the game ended,\u201d she says. \u201cHe was still in his skates, still had is medal around his neck, and he\u2019s like, \u2018I\u2019m not taking either off.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Larkin scored two goals in six Olympic games and won the most face-offs of any player. St. James says the emotional lift of winning gold could carry him and the Wings through the final third of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how excited he is, \u201d she says. \u201cHe just wants to lead the Wings into a playoff spot and end that nearly 10-year playoff drought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raymond shines for Sweden<\/p>\n

Larkin wasn\u2019t the only Red Wing at the Olympics. Lucas Raymond played for Sweden. Moritz Seider competed for Germany. Neither team made it past the quarterfinals. Lucas was the third-leading scorer at the games with one goal and eight assists.<\/p>\n

Because their Olympics ended early, St. James says Raymond and Seider should have some extra rest before the season resumes.<\/p>\n

How far they go depends on their health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is when the games get really tough,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s no leeway to take anything easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Red Wings might not be the only ones who get a golden bounce. Many of the players on the U.S. team came up through the national development program in Plymouth. That includes Jack Hughes and goalie Connor Hellebuyck. St. James says Hellebuyck deserves as much credit for beating Canada as anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe singlehandedly kept his teammates in it in the second and third periods when the shot disparity was so much in the Canadians\u2019 favor,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Hellebuyck stopped 41 shots against Canada. President Donald Trump hailed the Commerce Township native as a hero during his State of the Union speech. Trump also said he planned to award Hellebuyck the Medal of Freedom, the nation\u2019s highest civilian honor.<\/p>\n

Generation inspiration<\/p>\n

St. James says winning gold is good press for the national development team and youth hockey in general, both boys and girls. The U.S. also beat Canada 2-1 in overtime in the women\u2019s gold medal game. Farmington Hills native Megan Keller scored the game winning goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The American women dominated the Olympics, outscoring their opponents 33-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how both games cannot inspire young children to want to take up the game,\u201d St. James says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Red Wings haven\u2019t qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2016. It\u2019s the longest postseason drought…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[463,464],"tags":[3189,93,595,5,4,60,14,104,718],"class_list":{"0":"post-473312","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl-playoffs","8":"category-stanley-cup-playoffs","9":"tag-2026-winter-olympics","10":"tag-detroit-red-wings","11":"tag-dylan-larkin","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-nhl-playoffs","15":"tag-stanley-cup","16":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs","17":"tag-stanley-cup-playoffs-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116137973775423631","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}