The Washington Capitals want to maximize Alex Ovechkin’s last season before retirement. Dylan Larkin would help with that.
Larkin is the former captain of the Detroit Red Wings. He’s still playing for them as the new season begins despite requesting a trade, but they stripped him of the ‘C’ after his trade request.
It’s a situation that has dragged on since the summer, and there’s no obvious end in sight.
There are plenty of teams who want Larkin. There are at least a handful of teams that Larkin himself is interested in. There’s just one problem.
Larkin has an $8.7 million cap hit, and it’s hard to fit that on any of the teams that fit both of those lists.
“You’re not freeing up the $8.7 million [cap hit] anyway, but the eight, nine, 10 places that he’s willing to go to, they don’t have cap space,” David Pagnotta said recently on Daily Faceoff. “So, it still goes to what I’ve been saying – You’ve got to create the package for Larkin that’s attractive enough for Detroit to do it, and then you’ve got to figure out how the hell you make the money work. It’s a complicated situation unless he expands his list even more. If he says yes, and him and his family say yes to Montreal, I mean I have it on pretty good standing that he’ll be a Hab a few hours later. They are ready to pull the trigger on a move for Larkin. It’s just up to him and his family as to whether or not they want to go to Montreal, and, so far, the answer is still no.”
The Canadiens seem to be the most notable team that wants Larkin and can afford him, but he doesn’t want them.
The Capitals, on the other hand, can’t afford him, yet.
Capitals’ Ability to Trade for Dylan Larkin
The Caps would somehow have to create cap space to make this happen.
“Capitals don’t have cap space,” Pagnotta said. “Colorado doesn’t have cap space. Minnesota doesn’t, etc. You kind of have to wait things out, and I can’t imagine he wants to play out the season in Detroit. He wants this to be done sooner than later. The only way to do that is – you got to expand that list even more if you want something relatively immediate. Otherwise, you’re waiting and you’re trying to see how creative Horcoff can get with being a Billy Guerin in Minnesota or somebody else somewhere else. Until you do that, you’re going to be playing the waiting game.”
Cap space on a team filled with veterans on big contracts and younger players who have already gotten extensions won’t be the easiest thing to figure out.
A Starting Point
It feels like the Capitals would have to include Dylan Strome in any trade. He’s got a $5 million cap hit, plays center, and doesn’t have a no-trade clause.
The Red Wings would likely seek more in terms of present or future assets, but it doesn’t seem like such a trade can get done without Strome.
Every player on the Capitals that is paid more than Strome has some kind of trade restriction — and so either the Caps would need someone to want to go play in Detroit, or they’ll have to convince the Red Wings to appreciate Strome’s value as the starting point as a return for Larkin.
Here’s How Capitals Can Trade For Dylan Larkin