Is Larkin’s Trade Request A Blessing In Hidden For The Red Wings? – Hockey Writers – Detroit Red Wings

As news broke Thursday afternoon that captain Dylan Larkin had requested a trade with the Detroit Red Wings, the first reaction from fans was panic. Here is the team captain and the first center to abandon ship, does this mean the team will go back in the tank and have another dark decade of “rebuilding”?

Or, I heard this time, could it be that this is what the Red Wings needed to do but didn’t have the stomach for until Larkin made the request? It’s already clear that Detroit needs to decide how to build this team going forward this offseason, and this news hastened that process.

Another option was to build around guys like Larkin and Alex DeBrincat, players in their 20s who are in the prime of their careers but won’t last long. Detroit made a few moves along those lines throughout the offseason, including trading their 2026 first-round pick for Justin Faulk.

However, Larkin’s trade request takes this entire team building option off the table right away to Detroit, leaving them with only one option.

What Does the Red Wings Need for a Trade?

The glaring hole on the Red Wings roster has been in the starting lineup for several years now, but that hole is now much smaller with the crater left by Larkin’s departure. The first priority in the Larkin trade is getting a center in return. This could be a high quality center or a young respected player who does just that.

Guys like Michael Misa of the San Jose Sharks, Matty Beniers of the Seattle Kraken, James Hagens of the Boston Bruins, and Caleb Desnoyers of the Utah Mammoth can almost all fit into this piece of the puzzle. All of these names will likely hit the rumor mill in the near future (along with Robert Thomas, Elias Pettersson, and Mason McTavish), but as long as Detroit hires their return package around someone of this bad profile, they’ll be on the right track.

What should Detroit prioritize after that? Anything of value. The Red Wings are not in a position to choose here and should prioritize the combined value in return for their captain. The Vancouver Canucks got it right in the Quinn Hughes trade, adding three quality young players and a first-round pick. Larkin isn’t at Hughes’ skill level, but pulling a first-line center to an affordable contract is bound to attract a bidding war.

Who is in New Core?

For almost 12 years, Dylan Larkin has been among the “backbone” of the Red Wings. With Larkin clearly out, what does the new essence of the group look like. First, by context I mean a group of players who are not affected by trade or are very close to it unless someone is riding horses with a big offer. I’m not just going to list Detroit’s picks from the past five years as their core, because not all of those players have established themselves as worthy of that team.

Moritz Seider is the most obvious choice here, and I think he might be the oldest player in the team’s core, meaning shooter Alex DeBrincat might be on the way again instead of signing a new extension. DeBrincat will likely be at least 30 years old before this team is ready to compete, so it would be best to trade him now while his value is at its highest following his 40-goal season.

Lucas Raymond is another member of this core group, making himself Detroit’s most important forward since his rookie season. Simon Edvinsson has re-established himself as part of Detroit’s core recently, looking like a top-four defenseman.

Right now, I’m not sure if there are any players still in the spirit of the team yet. Young centers Nate Danielson and Marco Kasper will be under a lot of pressure to perform and fill some of the hole left by the Larkin trade, but I don’t expect either of them to be a first-line center at this point.

Players like Carter Bear, Max Plante and Michael Brandsegg-Nygård (MBN) all have the potential to be top-six power forwards for Detroit, but I’m not ready to put them in that group just yet.

It’s possible that these will be the best players on the next Red Wings team to make the playoffs even a few years ago, so committing to the growth of their young players for a few years and adding very young talent is clearly the best way for Detroit.

What Does This Mean for the 2026-27 Red Wings?

Let’s take off the bandage. The Red Wings will likely miss the playoffs again in the 2026-27 season. There’s no chance they’ll get a player as good, if not better, than Larkin in a trade, so there’s a good chance the team will regress next season.

With many of their best players improving, there’s a chance this step back isn’t as big as some doom-and-gloomers expect. However, the main goal for 2026-27 will probably be competing for a playoff spot, but their priority should be to continue the development of their young players such as MBN, Danielson, and Axel Sandin Pellikka (ASP). These will be their best players if the team seriously contends for the play-offs, so they might as well invest in them now.

What Does This Mean For Their Playoff Timeline?

The timeline for the Red Wings’ return to the playoffs probably isn’t that far behind with Larkin’s inevitable trade, though the team’s internal expectations for their timeline will need to be. As it is currently structured, the Red Wings are likely to miss the playoffs again next season given the continued success and growth of the team’s rivals such as the Montreal Canadiens and Buffalo Sabres.

Instead of building for today, burning for the future with good, but not great, pieces like Justin Faulk, the Red Wings will be forced to build for the future, adding very little talent and building their roster in a way that maximizes the impact and growth of these players.

While fans are rightfully upset that the franchise wasted Dylan Larkin’s career and ruined their chances of making the playoffs year after year, Larkin’s trade request could have forced the Red Wings to do what they should have done anyway. Take their medicine (however bad), you reap long-term success and growth.