Dylan Larkin is still a Red Wing, even if he doesn’t want to be. His offseason trade request, coming after 11 seasons with the club and just five playoff games (all as a rookie), symbolized the franchise’s inability to move out of neutral and forced fans to face the worst-case scenario: After all these years of waiting, maybe the Wings remain closer to the No. 1 overall draft pick than a playoff run. As the team’s second-leading scorer and leading center, Larkin would be impossible to replace quickly, so deciding that he’s abandoned that project and would rather just go to the playoffs with a contender now that he’s in his 30s is a frustrating setback.
It’s also an issue that has yet to be resolved as the Red Wings finish their first week of the regular season. The list of teams Larkin would be willing to waive his no-move clause for is tiny and elitist (not to mention tight cap), and Detroit, which doesn’t even have a non-interim GM at the moment, has yet to make a deal. As a result, Larkin was stripped of his position as team captain and he was booed vigorously by fans when his name was announced on opening night. He missed the first two losses of the season due to injury, while the Wings allowed five goals in four and a half periods before even getting on the board. And when he returned to the ice in front of a sad crowd Tuesday night against Ottawa, those who chose to express their opinion were generally not happy to see him.
But this game played out differently than the Wings’ previous poor performances. With Ottawa scoring the first goal after just three minutes, the men in red responded in a big way, scoring four unanswered goals en route to a 5-3 victory. And it was Larkin who played the most important role, not as an outcast, but as a talented attacker who consistently injected at least a little light into otherwise dark passages.
With the score at 1-1 in the closing stages of the first period, with the Red Wings having just squandered a power play, Larkin took a shot from Samuel Ersson, then sent the puck behind the net in the corner. He continued to hang around the goalie’s house as Alex DeBrincat interrupted a Senators punt. The Wings’ leading scorer over the past two seasons sent the puck to new acquisition Viktor Arvidsson, who was on the three goalies. Ersson moved to the right, Arvidsson centered the ball to Larkin in the home and the fallen Detroit captain scored his first goal and first point of the season. As he returned to the bench, he raised his hand in thanks to the fans who stood and applauded.
Something approaching a mirror image of the goal gave the Wings a 3-1 lead early in the second. Once again on the power play, Larkin claimed a dangerous zone and fired a point-blank shot that was saved by Ersson. Arvidsson came in from the (tiny) wing to grab the rebound, and he showed no hesitation in the finish. That’s one goal and one assist for Larkin this year.
It wasn’t all about an eventful Tuesday evening. The Wings and Sens have a recent history of feistiness, and Larkin was in the middle of a brawl that took place just before the second intermission. Blocking a hit against DeBrincat, Larkin confronted Ottawa’s Ridly Greig as the horn sounded, and in doing so he opened up a large tough-guy convention that erupted into multiple confrontations. Nine penalties against five players came as a result of the disagreement, plus a memorable taunt from Senators pest Nick Cousins, who mimed ripping an imaginary “C” off his jersey while he had Larkin’s attention.
Larkin then earned first star honors in the Wings’ first win of the season. After the game, he was diplomatic about the booing, saying, “I’m trying to be a man and deal with it, and I understand why it’s happening.” Without the trade request, this would have been a nice and fun early-season win, highlighted by a strong performance from the team’s longtime star. However, with the exchange request, it’s something stranger. The relationship between Larkin and Detroit appears to be, for all intents and purposes, over. But they are not officially finished yet. It’s hard to gauge exactly how valuable his appearance in many more games is for this mediocre-looking team, when every local reception is clumsy and every contribution he makes is a bit bitter. Maybe it’s punitive. Maybe it’s as simple as a goal and an assist.
Gn sports
