Pierre LeBrun Puts Larkin Standoff on Red Wings Ownership
· Yahoo Sports
The Detroit Red Wings finally had enough of the Dylan Larkin situation on Thursday. With Larkin not wanting to be with the team anymore, the Red Wings decided to suspend him without pay until he gets traded, and now Red Wings ownership is taking heat for how it got this far.
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Larkin requested a trade in the offseason and his wishes have not been granted yet. His full no-trade clause gives him say over where he goes, so it remains to be seen when Larkin is going to get traded from Detroit to another destination. With the Red Wings officially moving on, it is for the best for both parties, but there is a lot of blame that deserves to go around.
Pierre LeBrun Is Blaming Red Wings Ownership for the Larkin Situation
Many Detroit fans have no doubt had their issue with owner Chris Ilitch. The team has not made the playoffs in 10 straight seasons, the longest active drought in the NHL, and this once proud franchise has lost its edge. Not only are Red Wings fans mad at ownership up until this point, but Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic believes that ownership has played a major role in this situation with Larkin as well.
“Yes, it’s true that Larkin has patiently waited since May for a trade. But to be fair, Horcoff didn’t get the interim GM job until mid-September. So while it feels like an eternity for Larkin and his reps, it really has been only six weeks for the current Red Wings GM.
But I would also say this: Red Wings ownership has to wear some of this. How can they leave the front office without a GM for two months after announcing Steve Yzerman was no longer GM in July? That part is ridiculous by any measure. And it’s why, on some level, I feel bad for Horcoff. He was dropped into a near-impossible position. Not just with Larkin, but with restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson, too. There were no negotiations on that front for two months before Horcoff was named GM.”
It is true that it is ridiculous that Ilitch did wait a while to make Horcoff the interim general manager. Detroit announced on July 15 that Yzerman was moving into a senior adviser role, and it did not hand Horcoff the interim title until Sept. 15. With that being said, Horcoff has more work to do.
Horcoff Is Faced With an Impossible Task Now
One good thing that Horcoff did was signing Alex DeBrincat to a seven-year extension at a $13 million AAV early on in the NHL season. With that in the rearview mirror, Horcoff’s hands are tied, because he now has to decide whether to trade Larkin before the Dec. 1 deadline on Simon Edvinsson, the unsigned restricted free agent who cannot play this season if he is not under contract by then.
Horcoff’s Options With Larkin and Edvinsson
That is something that should not have even occurred in the first place but here we are. There is no doubt that Ilitch deserves a lot of the blame for the issues that the Red Wings are facing. Horcoff might be better off finding the best trade partner for Detroit that involves Larkin and also Edvinsson. They could also be patient with Larkin, but the Red Wings may want to trade him sooner rather than later here.