The Minnesota Wild have been in hot pursuit of Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin this summer but as the calendar drags into August, both sides remain in a staring contest as they attempt to work out a potential trade.
The latest update on the saga came from The Athletic’s Michael Russo, during an appearance on “The Sheet” podcast with Jeff Marek. While discussing the latest developments in the Wild’s pursuit to sign Quinn Hughes to a contract extension, he also mentioned that Minnesota had a positive development in their pursuit of Larkin as the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers have dropped out of the running.
While that sounds like good news, Russo grounded Wild fans as he reiterated the Red Wings are still looking for a GM and a package that is appealing enough to send Larkin out of Detroit.
“[Quinn] knows that Dylan’s preference would be to come to Minnesota, Vegas or Florida. But Vegas [and] Florida right now don’t have interest in him. But the Wild still do,” Russo said. “So we gotta see who the GM is and if the Wild can make some sort of contract.
“The problem there is the Wild’s assets is what they are. They’re not gonna magically [or] suddenly give up [Matt Boldy] in a Dylan Larkin trade. Unless they’re going to want futures that aren’t sure things, I don’t know how that deal is going to get done unless it’s a three-way trade.”
Wild still in the same spot despite positive Dylan Larkin update
With that, the Wild are seemingly back where they started in pursuing Larkin. The Red Wings captain asked for a trade back in June and put the Knights, Panthers and Wild on his no-trade list. Minnesota seemed like the preferred destination, but former Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman balked at the Wild’s offer and asked for Boldy in return.
Knowing that Boldy is the better player in that deal, the Wild tried to wait things out and got another positive development when Yzerman was reassigned as an adviser to owner Chris Ilitch last month. But Yzerman continues to run the day-to-day operations for Detroit while that search is taking place and The Athletic’s Max Bultman sounded like one isn’t coming soon after updating the search in a mailbag article released on Wednesday.
“It’s certainly unusual for a team to not have a general manager this late into the offseason, and while it has been a slow start to the process, it’s not unprecedented for searches to take a while in terms of sheer time spent. …But the one big difference between this search and the ones that took place right when the season ended is that Detroit is the only team in the market right now. The Red Wings aren’t racing other franchises to make sure their top candidates don’t get snatched up. They can focus on their own process.”
In addition, Russo added the Wild’s prospect pool is another hurdle adding that Minnesota doesn’t even know what top prospects including Danila Yurov and Charlie Stramel will be at the NHL level. While finding a third team is ideal, that’s easier said than done and leaves the Wild in a holding pattern even toward opening night.
The Wild continue to wait on the Red Wings for a Dylan Larkin trade
The next question is where the Wild go from here and the best answer may be a giant shrug emoji or, they just simply wait. Wild GM Bill Guerin preached patience both at the start of free agency and during an appearance on SKOR North’s Judd’s Hockey Show last week and even hinted the Wild could look at another position to improve their roster by opening night.
Guerin also has Hughes’s contract to worry about, but signing him could require an additional move to bolster a roster that lost 150 points from last year’s lineup.
Either way, the pursuit of Larkin doesn’t seem to have a clear conclusion. But if Wild fans are looking for a positive sign, it looks like he will either begin next season in Minnesota or Detroit.
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