Dylan Larkin only named three teams as his preferred destination, but those teams are feeling the cap crunch and he may need to broaden his horizons this summer.
When Larkin named only three teams to his preferred trade list, it set off a backlash that made fans question his motives given that he holds a full no-trade, and handicapping his team to only a handful of places actually makes trading him harder. With every team needing to worry about the cap, Larkin mayweed to expand his options.
Larkin's disgruntled nature in Detroit has reportedly been brewing for quite a while, and though he has always been a staunch teammate and given 100% each season, he is getting a bit fed up with not being able to compete year after year.
He wants to go somewhere that wins and given that he named Florida, Vegas, and Minnesota as his three top choices, it's obvious winning is a key factor.
Larkin's preferred destinations are all cap-strapped and his contract is hard to fit in
However, while that's all well and good for Larkin, let's take a deeper look into why it's really not possible.
First, the Panthers are a team who has some cap but also has a ton of pending free agents, while RFA's like Mackie Samoskevich need new deals. They also have no signed goalies right now, so perhaps figuring out Sergei Bobrovsky is up on that priority list as well.
Larkin makes $8.7-million until 2031, so the Panthers would need to find a lot of replacements for cheap considering that would eat into more than half of their $15-million cap and that's without re-signing anyone.
They also have so much money committed up front to older names and adding Larkin's deal which ends in his mid-30's, it's a lot of money on older veterans.
Vegas doesn't have that much space either with only about $5-million to work with, though they have a lot of older UFA's. they don't need to re-sign as a priority and will likely have that extra cap space from Alex Pietrangelo's LTIR money.
But that's still going to cut things razor thin, and Vegas would still need to give up a huge haul for Larkin so while the money may end up fitting in the end, it strips Vegas of a championship roster that may lose some edge.
Minnesota has a couple names too who they need to figure out the plan for including Bobby Brink, Daemon Hunt and most importantly - Quinn Hughes. That alone is going to cost a ton of money, and it's hard to see the Wild parting with a name like Matt Boldy to get it done.
Plus you have Kiril Kaprizov making an absurd $17-million per season, and there's no shot that Larkin fits in, and that's over $37-million with Kaprizov, Larkin, Boldy and Joel Eriksson Ek; it's just not feasible.
If the money doesn't work the choice is to either sit Larkin or make him expand his options
So if Larkin can't go where he wants, then there is going to be a lot more friction than there already is, and both parties are going to need to figure out a compromise.
If not, the only options really are a) Detroit calls his bluff and sits their captain for the entire season, eating a salary cap hit in order to teach a lesson and force his hand or b) Larkin decides he doesn't want to commit career harakiri and expands his horizons.
There have been other teams like Dallas, Tampa Bay, and San Jose all thrown into the mix however only one of those teams (San Jose) has the cap necessary to bring him in without a huge deficit - but they also need to sign four or five blueliners.
That opens the door for a team like Toronto to pay for Larkin knowing that he doesn't have a lot of choices and he still gets to play with his Team USA captain, so he fills the friendship quota; plus Gavin McKenna doesn't hurt either.
Larkin has to decide whether or not he wants to play beyond his desire destinations but he can't take too long or Detroit may have to keep him off the ice. The clock is ticking and getting closer to the midnight hour.
Also read on Hockey Patrol :
Dylan Larkin expanded his trade list to six teams