Larkin Trade Request: MEGATHREAD (keep it here)

10 years and counting. Why am I not even surprised. Bookmark this thread, we will be back here in October explaining how the rebuild is still on schedule.

NO. NO NO NO. our CAPTAIN?? i have his jersey ON RIGHT NOW. i feel sick. TEN YEARS we waited for the kids and the one homegrown guy who actually CARED is the one walking out the door?? i cannot do this tonight

the captain asking out is the most red wings thing thats happened since 2008

Okay everybody breathe. The math actually matters here:

- 8.7 AAV x 5 = he is the contract

- M-NTC means HE controls the market, not Yzerman

- 3 teams on the list = leverage is basically zero for us

You do not move a 30-goal 1C with a full NTC for a king's ransom when he handed the other GMs the leverage. Anyone promising you a 1st + top prospect + roster player is selling you a fairy tale.

Wings get: VGK 1st, Hague, Tomas Hertl

Vegas get: Larkin

thoughts?

@tj_morris said:

Vegas get: Larkin, Wings get Hertl + 1st + Hague

Hertl makes 6.75 through 2030 and Vegas is already up against the wall. This clears their cap how, exactly? You have them taking on 8.7 AND giving you their best pick. Open CapFriendly before you post, I am begging you.

its a starting point relax

@tj_morris said:

its a starting point

so is the lottery and we gave that pick to st louis too lmao

watch the list magically expand the second yzerman cant get his price. of course. its always us.

A captain asking out. Stevie Yzerman played 22 years here with a bad knee and never once whined his way out the door. These guys wouldn't last a shift in '97. Soft league, soft players.

Let's not turn this into a character trial 🙄. The man gave this franchise a decade through the worst stretch in 30 years and asked out ONCE, privately, after a 10th missed playoff. That's not a diva. That's a competitor who is 30 and watched the window not open. Keep it fair in here please. 🙏

@becca_w said:

That's a competitor who is 30 and watched the window not open

Fair. But let's be honest about the STANDARD here. This is a franchise that won FOUR Cups in my lifetime. Larkin is a very good player who would have been a really nice complementary piece on the '02 team. He is not a guy you build around and the last decade is the proof. If he wants out, get the haul and reload.

People keep saying "30 goals" like that's the whole story. Larkin drove play on a roster with no real 2C. His on-ice xGF% was the best of any forward who played 1000+ minutes, and the team was meaningfully worse with him off the sheet. You can want a bigger return and still acknowledge that replacing his minutes is the actual problem, not finding "a guy who scores."

hot take but DeBrincat for Tarasenko-ish picks was a HEIST and i will say it in every thread 🔥 if we move Larkin we better get a finisher BACK not another 200-foot guy. we have enough guys who backcheck hard and score 14 goals 💀

the we need scoring not two way guys thing is so tired honestly. larkin IS the scoring. you trade him you have LESS scoring not more. people act like theres a 40 goal center just sitting in the return

As a guy who still laces 'em up on Tuesday nights at Troy: you do not find another guy who wins a draw, kills a penalty AND pots 30. Those don't grow on the waiver wire. Easy to type "just get a sniper." Go try to find one.

hes also like a 54% guy on faceoffs and our next best center is what, low 40s. people forget the little stuff goes out the door with him too

we are NOT trading the captain. mark it down. Stevie talks him off the ledge, signs a 2C in july, we make the playoffs next year. LGRW. screenshot this.

@WingsInFour said:

we make the playoffs next year. screenshot this.

Screenshotted. Filed next to your October Cup pick, your "Kasper breaks out" guarantee, and the Faulk trade you swore would put us over the top. The folder is getting heavy, friend.

doug really keeps a folder 💀💀 throwing the octopus on the ice for that one 🐙

cooked

the funniest part of all this is going to be the presser where Stevie says "I don't comment on rumors" for eleven straight minutes and everyone treats it like the Zapruder film

Per LeBrun on the morning hit: this was apparently relayed privately weeks ago and the team sat on it. League sources frame it as Larkin wanting clarity on the timeline more than "get me out tonight." Yzerman, per multiple people, is in no rush and will not be bullied into a deadline. File under: this drags into July.

This is the part people underrate. Yzerman does not blink. Remember he sat on Fleury's situation in Tampa-era patience mode and waited out the market until the price was right. He is not handing Larkin to Florida for a discount because Friedman said a sentence on a Tuesday. Trust the process.

@SuburbanWings said:

Trust the process.

ten years of process and the only thing thats cooked is us. but sure

can we please not let this turn into a teardown thread 😤 Seider is a top pairing RD on a value deal, he is the build. you do NOT move him because the captain wants out. completely different conversations

IF ANYONE IN THIS THREAD SAYS THE WORDS "TRADE SEIDER OR EDVINSSON" I AM CALLING A MOD. Edvinsson is a 6'6 Norris track guy on an ENTRY DEAL. you build the new core around HIM. larkin leaving makes the young D MORE important not less!!!

From a pure asset standpoint, if you're truly entertaining a teardown the order goes: rentals first, then Larkin for the best center-or-pick package, and you absolutely do NOT touch Seider, Edvinsson, Raymond, or Kasper. Those four are the only reason a reload is even plausible. Selling a 23-year-old cost-controlled top-pair D to soften a Larkin exit would be franchise malpractice.

nobody talking about the crease in all this. if larkin goes and the D gets younger, who saves us. gibson cant do it alone again man

@gibby35 said:

who saves us. gibson cant do it alone again

Thank you. Everyone blames goaltending but the shot quality against was brutal because the D was scrambling all year. You lose Larkin's defensive minutes up the middle and the goalies inherit even more high-danger looks. It's all connected.