So, the Detroit Red Wings finally came to their sense and did something they should have done a long time ago.
The club announced that Dylan Larkin will report to training camp, sans the “C” on his chest. This effectively means the team has stripped the 30-year-old of his captaincy following the very public trade request he made earlier this summer.
Let’s point something out here.
It wasn’t that Larkin renounced his captaincy for some benevolent reason. It was that the organization wants to set things straight.
Of course, stripping Larkin of his captaincy actually does little to alleviate the mess Larkin and the organization made. But at least it’s a step in the right direction.
That decision means Larkin could very well start the season, tail tucked between his legs. All the while, the upper echelons of the team will figure out who will be running what at some point down the line. And when they do, that person will be tasked with trading Larkin to wherever becomes possible.
But Red Wings fans shouldn’t pin their hopes on a quick resolution of this matter. It could very well be a long time before anything actually happens. In the meantime, Larkin and the team will have to go on, pretending like everything’s all right.
Larkin and Red Wings Pretending that Trade Request Didn’t Happen
Until Larkin is actually traded, the two sides will pretend as if nothing happened. It’s like having a married couple that has agreed to divorce, but meanwhile the paperwork is finalized, they live in the same house.
All the way, the kids know what’s going on, but they don’t really know how to act around their separating parents.
With Larkin playing in Detroit amid the ongoing situation, is he still going to be the top-line center? Is the team just going to act like the trade request never happened?
Or is coach Todd McLellan going to bump Larkin down the lineup and give him fourth-line minutes?
There’s an actual sense to making that sort of move.
Teams often scratch players for “roster management” purposes. That’s hockey-speak for “we don’t want to risk a guy we’re tying to trade getting hurt during a game”.
And so, would dressing Larkin in the regular season make sense? That’s a question worth digging deeper into.
What to read next:
Larkin Might Not Actually Make the Team
So, picking up from that previous statement, there’s a very good chance that Larkin will be at camp, but he won’t actually make the team.
Let that sink in for a minute.
It’s one thing to be part of drills and the acclimation process that comes when the new season begins. But it’s another totally different thing to actually dress during a regular-season game.
Suppose the unimaginable happens. Larkin gets seriously injured during the first week of the season. Heck, the Florida Panthers lost Aleksander Barkov last season during their first practice of the year.
That’s the risk of having Larkin play during the regular season. Fans will see the erstwhile captain in camp. But there’s a fat chance he’ll actually play.
Red Wings Come to Their Senses, Strip Larkin of Captaincy