6 Potential Trade Landing Spots for Red Wings' Dylan Larkin Amid NHL Trade Rumors

We might have our first major blockbuster of the NHL offseason brewing.

Word surfaced on Thursday from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman that Detroit Red Wings center (and captain) Dylan Larkin has requested a trade away from the team, opening the door for the longest-tenured player in the organization to move on.

Larkin has been with the Red Wings for all 11 years of his NHL career and has yet to find any major team success.

He has made the playoffs just once, and that was during his rookie season. He has been there through the entirety of the team's current 10-year playoff drought and has seemingly become increasingly frustrated with the losing.

He was critical of the team's inaction at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, and after yet another late-season meltdown in 2025-26, he is now looking to get a fresh start elsewhere.

Assuming the Red Wings follow through with his request, he will be a wildly sought-after player. Even though he will be 30 next season, he has scored at least 30 goals in each of the past five seasons and is a legitimate top-line center who can also impact the game defensively. He is still signed long-term through the 2031 season at what should be a very team-friendly salary cap number of $8.7 million per season. Given the lack of center depth on the free agent market, as well as the number of teams in need of a first-or second-line center, there should be a robust market for him.

He has no-trade protections that can dictate where he goes, but if he is requesting a trade, he is probably open to a wide range of destinations.

So let's take a look at some teams that could be potential landing spots for him.

Montreal Canadiens

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This is a nearly identical situation to Minnesota.

Montreal has taken massive steps forward over the past two years, reaching the playoffs in 2025 and then returning in 2026 and going as far as the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Canadiens have an outstanding No. 1 center in Nick Suzuki and a fantastic young core, but they still need one more big-time forward in the top six to help bring everything together. That forward would ideally be a second-line center.

Jake Evans, Philip Danault, and Oliver Kapanen helped fill out the center depth behind Suzuki this season, and while they did an admirable job at times, there really isn't another difference-maker in that group.

A Suzuki-Larkin duo down the middle would help make the Canadiens a preseason favorite going into next season.

The problem with that is it would almost certainly take a massive trade haul to get Steve Yzerman to help a divisional rival to that degree.

Minnesota Wild

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The Wild were one of the top teams in the NHL during the 2025-26 season and have a roster that is extremely close to being a bona fide Stanley Cup contender.

But as they showed in this year's playoffs, they are still missing one big element: more help down the middle.

Joel Eriksson Ek is currently the top center in Minnesota and an outstanding two-way player. As good as he is, he may not be the perfect top center for a contender, and there is a pretty massive drop in talent and production at the position when you get beyond him on the roster.

Ryan Hartman spent this season as their No. 2 center, and that's just not going to move the needle enough or get the job done against the best teams in the league in a best-of-seven series.

Adding a player like Larkin into the mix to go along with Eriksson Ek would give the Wild a really strong 1-2 punch down the middle and bring some much-needed speed and goal-scoring ability to the position.

Minnesota's Stanley Cup window is still wide open, and as long as Quinn Hughes is there for at least one more season, the Wild should be doing everything they can to put the best possible team on the ice to win a Stanley Cup. Getting more help from the center should be at the top of their list.

Washington Capitals

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Do not let the Capitals slide out of the playoffs in 2025-26 fool you into thinking this team is finished. It's not. The Capitals were significantly better than their record indicated, and even so, their record would have been good enough to make the playoffs in most seasons in the Eastern Conference.

There is still a good roster in place here that checks a lot of boxes for a potential contender. Bad special teams, some injuries, and some bad luck held them back.

They still have good depth, a top-tier defenseman (Jakob Chychrun) and an outstanding goalie (Logan Thompson) to build around.

They just need a little more help at center and another potential difference-maker at the top of the lineup.

Given their salary cap space, draft pick capital, and trade assets, the Capitals should be aggressive this offseason in pursuing a top-line forward in the trade market.

They should be in on Jason Robertson or Robert Thomas if they are available.

They should be in on Larkin if the Red Wings follow through with his request.

They have two mid-first-round draft picks, some solid prospects, and a need.

Give them a healthy Pierre-Luc Dubois for a full season (he appeared in just 27 games this season), and somebody like Larkin added into the lineup, and you not only have a likely playoff team, but you have a playoff team that could make some noise.

Philadelphia Flyers

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The 2025-26 season turned out to be a wildly successful year for the Flyers as they snapped a six-year playoff drought and eliminated their arch-rivals (the Pittsburgh Penguins) in the first round of the playoffs.

It's a solid, solid team, especially defensively.

But for as good as they can be in terms of goal prevention and suppressing chances, they are still lacking some difference-makers offensively. They need more scoring punch, and they especially need it down the middle.

Sean Couturier is not the player he was at his peak, and while Christian Dvorak had a solid season he's not really a player you want to rely on in a top-six role if you're going to try and take the next step from playoff team to serious contender.

They figure to be active this offseason, and Larkin checks a lot of boxes for the type of forward they should be looking at.

Boston Bruins

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Center has been a bit of a trouble spot for the Bruins ever since the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci, and while the depth there looks better than it has in recent seasons, they could still use an upgrade.

James Hagens has the potential to be a top-line player, and he is knocking on the door.

Fraser Minten had an outstanding rookie season and looks poised to be a really good player.

Pavel Zacha and Elias Lindholm are good players coming off solid years, but are they good enough to be top centers on a contender?

It's a lot of good players, and some potentially really good players. But if Boston has designs on being a serious contender in the Eastern Conference, it might need to aim a little higher than just "good and potentially good."

But just as we said with Montreal, it might take something major to get Yzerman to trade his captain within his own division.

Los Angeles Kings

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Ken Holland drafted Dylan Larkin when he was general manager of the Detroit Red Wings.

Holland is currently the general manager of the Los Angeles Kings and is going to be facing serious pressure to deliver a winner this offseason after a fifth consecutive first-round playoff exit (though he was only running the team for one of them).

The Kings also have a massive need for scorers.

That is especially true at center, where Anze Kopitar is retiring at the conclusion of a Hall of Fame career.

All of the puzzle pieces fit together here. It just makes sense, and it seems like an obvious potential fit.