The Minnesota Wild are still hoping that they can trade for Dylan Larkin, but the Detroit Red Wings have tested their patience. Initially met with a high asking price from president of hockey operations Steve Yzerman, the Wild were thrown another curveball when Yzerman was reassigned and had to wait through Detroit’s search for a new general manager.
Needless to say, the Wild have spent their entire summer waiting for the Red Wings to get their life together and it may cost them a top-line center. But Minnesota may have another unexpected development coming their way as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that former Wild front office member Andrew Thomas could be in consideration as Yzerman’s replacement.
“When this opened up, I don’t know that [Thomas] is going to be ready for this now, but I’ve heard they think very highly of him,” Friedman said during his 32 Thoughts podcast that was released on Tuesday. “And so that is a name to remember, although, I”m not convinced the opportunity is going to be him now.”
Even if Thomas doesn’t wind up getting the general manager job, he has enough connections that could get him a job with the Red Wings and add another wrinkle to the WIld’s pursuit of Larkin.
Andrew Thomas’s Wild ties could complicate a potential Dylan Larkin trade
Thomas spent four years as the lead hockey researcher for the Wild from 2016 to 2019 and had a big role in the club’s day-to-day operations. In addition to building infrastructure for advanced data collection and player performance modeling, he also provided statistical analysis for professional and amateur player personnel acquisitions including trade targets, free agents and draft process.
Contract negotiations and advising the coaching staff on tactical adjustments were two more roles that Thomas served during his time with the Wild and it makes sense considering he co-founded the analytics website WAR on Ice.
Thomas’s run in Minnesota ended when Paul Fenton took over for Chuck Fletcher in 2019 and became the first Director of Data Science at SportsMEDIA Technologies in 2020. But he currently serves as the Vice President of Baseball Analytics for MLB’s Detroit Tigers, which is the same organization that employs another Red Wings GM candidate, Jeff Greenberg.
While Greenberg is the current GM of the Tigers, he served as the Associate General Manager for the Chicago Blackhawks from April 2022 to September 2023. With Thomas currently working underneath him, there’s a chance Greenberg could bring Thomas with him if he gets the GM job with the Red Wings and it could throw another twist as the Wild try to bring Larkin to Minnesota.
A new front office is another hurdle for the Wild to trade for Dylan Larkin
The biggest way that Thomas could impact a potential trade is by convincing Larkin to stay in Detroit. While Friedman believes that Larkin’s trade request will stand after the Red Wings figure out their GM opening, there’s a chance they could convince him to stay based on what Detroit is looking for in their next general manager.
“I think the biggest thing is that I think the Red Wings have been shocked and surprised at getting people to want to play for them or be there and I think that’s a very big part of this,” Friedman continued. “Explain to us how we can get back to being the Red Wings again where people want to play for us.
“I think [the trade request] stands for now. …We’ll see what the new person comes in and says and how Larkin feels.”
The chances of Larkin pulling his trade request seem slim since the fan base has virtually turned on him since it became public. But Friedman’s comments suggest that the Red Wings are going to try. Thomas’s view on analytics could also be a selling point that drags Detroit away from the old-school approach that Yzerman was known for and may have motivated Larkin to ask for a trade.
In addition, Thomas’s presence could make a trade even harder to pull off. If his analytics models value Larkin differently, the Wild could be back at the start. But the new front office could try to put the Larkin drama behind them quickly, which could swing the pendulum back in Minnesota’s favor.
Either way, it’s another example where the Wild have waited as the Red Wings have spun their wheels. The lack of a GM means a trade for Larkin isn’t imminent and if Thomas joins Detroit’s front office either as a GM or in another role, it could add another layer to the process that has dragged through the summer.
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