As a big week looms for the Detroit Red Wings, it’s worth remembering their last week of the 2025-26 season.
It was nothing but lowlights: a home loss to the New Jersey Devils that eliminated the Wings from the playoffs for a 10th straight season on April 11; an overtime loss at the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 13, and then in a final and fitting humiliation, an 8-1 rout at the hands of the Florida Panthers on April 15 that led Wings coach Todd McLellan to limit his postgame comments to reporters to 45 seconds of complimenting the also-eliminated Panthers on showing pride.
A week later, on April 23, general manager Steve Yzerman met with reporters to discuss another failed season, and everything he said was summarized when he acknowledged the Wings “need better players.”
And while one’s definition of “shortly” may vary, based on Yzerman revealing over the weekend that Dylan Larkin’s agent called Yzerman “shortly after the season, informing me that Dylan would like to be traded,” it’s possible Yzerman already knew that on April 23.
Now comes a big week ahead, including setting prospects on a path that the team hopes one day will lead them to suit up for for the Wings.
Interest in Larkin
The days leading into the June 26-27 NHL draft saw multiple trades around the league as GMs shape their rosters ahead of a weak free agent market, and that could spur movement on the Larkin front. But it was interesting − and understandable − how emphatic Yzerman was about how much power he holds, too, because even though Larkin has a no-trade clause, he also has five-years left on his contract. “I did not make any guarantees that that request could or would be met,” Yzerman said.
This is not the same situation as with the Columbus Blue Jackets, where Norris Trophy winning defenseman and Grosse Pointe native Zach Werenski has let it be known he’s unlikely to extend in two years. That puts more pressure on a team than when a player has five years left, especially on a deal as favorable as Larkin’s, which carries an $8.7 million salary cap hit and an actual salary average of $7.72 million.
Larkin wants to go to a contender, and it may take a multi-team trade to get back what the Wings need, which is, essentially, what Larkin is: a top-line center and 30-goal scorer in his prime.
Free agency
Two days before the draft, forward Alex Tuch, a 30-goal scorer, was dealt by the Buffalo Sabres to the Washington Capitals in a sign-and-trade that swiped the pending top UFA off the market. Competing with 31 teams means the talent pool has thinned, and top players rarely hit the market.
That means scrounging for what’s left, and that leads to overpaying − as the Wings did with the likes of J.T. Compher, Andrew Copp, Justin Holl and Mason Appleton.
It’s also why the Wings have to hope Patrick Kane − who the past two years re-upped on June 30 − doesn’t let Larkin’s request impact a return. The Wings can ill afford to lose one of the few guys who can score.
Development camp
Over the next few days, the Wings will gather the crops from recent years’ drafts and bring them to Little Caesars Arena for on-ice testing and skills development and off-ice workout plans and nutrition classes.
“What we want to do with these guys is basically give them as much information as possible,” assistant general manager Kris Draper said. “The importance of training on and off the ice. They’re going to get full-body analysis of how they move and what they need to do and what they need to improve on. We’re going to get that to them.
“Once we do that, our expectations are that they’re going to do that and [have] an incredible summer. This is the most important time for hockey players, when you have two, three months to be able to train.”
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: ‘Better players’ in the week ahead for Detroit Red Wings? We shall see
Reporting by Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Helene St. James, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
