Dylan Larkin’s trade request has created an obvious problem for the Detroit Red Wings all summer: wanting a trade is one thing, giving Detroit enough teams to create a legitimate trade market is another.
Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell appears to have noticed.
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While discussing the offseason trade conversations involving star defenseman Zach Werenski, Waddell explained why an extremely restrictive list of acceptable destinations could have ended those discussions quickly.
“If he only gave us two or three places that would have ended the conversation because we saw what happened in another city,” Waddell said on The Sick Podcast: The Eye Test.
Waddell did not mention Larkin or Detroit by name. Detroit Hockey Now connected his “another city” reference to the Red Wings captain’s situation, and it is not difficult to understand why. Larkin’s limited trade list has been one of the defining obstacles in Detroit’s attempts to resolve his request.
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Larkin’s No-Trade Clause Has Real Value
When Steve Yzerman publicly addressed the situation in June, he confirmed Larkin’s agent had supplied Detroit with a short list of teams for which Larkin would consider waiving his no-trade clause. Yzerman also made clear there were no guarantees Detroit would accommodate the request.
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The list was initially believed to include Minnesota, Florida and Vegas before Dallas was later added, a development that expanded Detroit’s options without exactly creating a bidding war.
This is the part of no-trade clauses that gets inconvenient for teams once somebody actually uses one.
Detroit agreed to give Larkin that control. He is now exercising it.
The Red Wings can ask for whatever return they believe their top center is worth, but if only a handful of teams are permitted to negotiate seriously, those teams know Detroit’s leverage is restricted.
That is not Larkin gaming the system. It is the system Detroit agreed to.
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Waddell’s Werenski Approach Shows the Other Side
Columbus faced its own uncomfortable star-player situation this summer.
Werenski possessed trade protection and was the subject of significant trade chatter, including a potential deal with Dallas, before deciding he wanted to remain with the Blue Jackets. He has since publicly said Columbus is where he wants to be.
Waddell’s comment is revealing because NHL general managers pay attention when another club gets boxed into a difficult negotiation.
If Werenski had presented Columbus with only two or three destinations, Waddell says the conversation would have ended. Why? Because a trade market isn’t much of a market when nearly everybody is prohibited from participating.
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Detroit has spent months confronting exactly that problem.
The Red Wings reportedly want meaningful NHL talent rather than simply accumulating futures, which helps explain why the Larkin situation has settled into such a stubborn stalemate.
Detroit Still Doesn’t Have to Make a Bad Trade
There is another lesson buried in Waddell’s comment.
Limited leverage does not require surrender.
Larkin remains under contract through 2030-31, and Detroit is not facing an expiring-contract deadline that forces a trade. He has also confirmed he will report to training camp while conversations about his future remain private.
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That leaves the Red Wings with an uncomfortable but defensible option: keep him.
If Minnesota, Vegas, Florida, Dallas or another approved destination eventually presents an offer Detroit believes improves the roster, the conversation changes. If those teams conclude Detroit has no choice and try to bargain accordingly, Detroit can simply decline.
Waddell’s comments are interesting precisely because they come from another general manager who confronted the possibility of operating inside the same kind of restricted market.
Columbus avoided it when Werenski decided to stay.
Detroit hasn’t been nearly as fortunate.
