Which team would be the best fit for Dylan Larkin?
The Detroit Red Wings and general manager Steve Yzerman may have a tough , after news broke Thursday via a report from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman that star center and captain Dylan Larkin had requested a trade.
Larkin, who was a gold medalist at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games with Team USA, instantly becomes the most talented player on the market given the poor quality of this year’s class of unrestricted free agents.
Many teams around the league could use a center of Larkin’s caliber, but with a full no-trade clause, the 2014 first-round pick holds a lot of the cards, and could have a big hand in picking his next destination.
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed which of the many teams in the market for an impact center would be the best fit for Larkin in a trade.
Tyler Yaremchuk: As we shift and look at the market here for Dylan Larkin. The two teams everyone was really quick to jump to connect here, we know Minnesota has been starving for a top-of-the-lineup centerman for years now. My issue is, if you’re Steve Yzerman and the Minnesota Wild come calling, you already traded Marco Rossi in the Quinn Hughes deal. You traded Zeev Buium in the Quinn Hughes deal. You traded a first-round pick in the Quinn Hughes deal. I know some people are like, Danila Yurov is a 22-year-old centerman who had a great year. If I’m Detroit, I’m saying no. If you’re getting Dylan Larkin, my top-of-the-lineup center, I’m getting yours. I want 29-year-old Joel Eriksson-Ek, and again, for Minnesota, that’s probably pretty close to a non-starter… I think New Jersey’s a really interesting fit. This would tie in with Minnesota too, but he has a connection to the Hughes brothers, obviously. Could New Jersey find a way to make it work? But again, if I’m Steve Yzerman and the Devils call… I sit there and go then I want Nico Hischier, and I want him signed to an extension. I just don’t see a world where Yzerman just rolls over.
Carter Hutton: And does he not play, right? If it gets to a point where it’s like, you know there’s a holdout… and you’re going to have to bring any trade that you make to Dylan Larkin, right? It’s not like you have this window, he’s got a full no-movement clause. He holds all the cards, and again, I think Stevie Y plays hard ball on this. I think it’s going to be a tricky situation. Some of the other teams that I heard were Boston, LA, Anaheim, Buffalo. We threw out San Jose. I hadn’t really heard that, just because of the future. The LA one for me is like, okay if Byfield comes back, who else do you move? It would be funny, well, not funny, but… understanding what his goal is in this. Is it to win, or is it just to get out of Michigan?
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode below…