Elliotte Friedman just leaked the winner of the Dylan Larkin sweepstakes

Elliotte Friedman just gave everyone the team expected to win the Dylan Larkin sweepstakes as trade rumours continue to heat up.

Ever since news broke that the Detroit Red Wings were benching Dylan Larkin as they searched for a trade, the speculation skyrocketed. He felt slighted by the team and was as patient as possible, but tensions boiled over and he definitively wants out.

While out he forgoes a fair bit of salary, and the longer that this plays out, the more he loses not only financially but also in-season preparation. If he's not playing games, then he potentially could lose some of his effectiveness down the road.

Which is why a trade seems so imminent as Larkin clearly wants to play just not in Detroit, and the Red Wings want this entire saga completed once and for all.

Larkin is about to start feeling a bit more 'wild' according to insider

And it seems like they have a winner at least according to Elliotte Friedman.

Friedman appeared on the Spittin' Chiclets show and explained that he believes the Minnesota Wild are the front-runners for Larkin and it might take a genuinely bonkers offer to get him to go elsewhere:

I still think Minnesota; my theory on Montreal is if they made [an offer]...that Detroit really liked, they would go to Larkin and say okay, Montreal's got us a great offer...let's seriously think about it.

It's no secret that Montreal has been wanting to improve up front but Larkin has also been adamant that any trade to a Canadian team was flat-out not going to happen.

The Wild are a team that make a ton of sense, as they have a few of Larkin's Olympic teammates, and he'll get a chance to play alongside Quinn Hughes and actually have a chance to compete in the playoffs - where he only has five career games played.

Detroit is ready to take just about any offer to end this stalemate

At this point, the Red Wings want the dark cloud of this entire thing over and done with as they still have defenseman Simon Edvinsson to deal with whether that be a trade or a long-term extension (if he wants to stay).

Minnesota can offer a bunch of young NHL-ready help like Bobby Brink, Danila Yurov, as well as prospects like Rasmus Kumpulainen. All three players would help accelerate Detroit's rebuild though they would need to find a way to afford Larkin's contract going forward.

Whatever Bill Guerin decides to pay for Larkin, he's doing it with the intention of winning now and figuring out the consequences later. For Detroit, that means they can try and squeeze him for as much as possible.

Given that Larkin's disgruntled nature and imminent departure is a gigantic distraction - that's not a bad payoff all things considered.

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