Everyone is connecting Dylan Larkin to the same team after this development
Dylan Larkin has requested a trade out of Detroit, and according to Elliotte Friedman, the Minnesota Wild are the team most teams keep circling back to.
Friedman flagged Minnesota as the number one destination Thursday, with Dallas and Tampa Bay also in the conversation.
Florida was mentioned too, but Friedman was direct: he does not think the Panthers can make it work financially.
That cap piece matters. Larkin carries an $8.7 million cap hit, and Minnesota already has a full roster built around contending.
The Wild finished 46-24-12 this season with 104 points. Bill Guerin runs a tight cap, and adding $8.7 million to that structure is not a simple exercise.
Dallas is a legitimate fit on paper. The Stars went 50-20-12 for 112 points and a plus-52 goal differential. They have the cap structure and the appetite for a move like this.
What Larkin's numbers say about his value on the market
Larkin put up 34 goals and 33 assists for 67 points in 74 games this season. Nine of those were game-winners. He went plus-3 on the year and scored 14 power play goals.
Those are captain numbers. Top-line center numbers. Whatever Steve Yzerman gets back, it better be significant.
Detroit closed the season at 41-31-10 with a -17 goal differential. The rebuild window is closing, but the Red Wings are not quite there.
Larkin is 29. The best years of his prime are now. Staying in a situation that went 2-6-2 over its last 10 games of the season and got blasted 8-1 by Florida in the finale is not where this story ends.
Minnesota makes sense in the way a mid-sized market contender always makes sense for a player who wants wins but does not necessarily need the spotlight. Think of it as trading a starring role in a struggling film for a supporting part in one that actually gets made.
John Hynes has the Wild playing a structured, responsible game. Larkin in that system, with a supporting cast already in place, is a real threat in the Central.
The question is what Guerin has to give up to make it happen. And that part of the story has not moved yet.
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 4, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Brett Howden | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mark Jankowski | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mark Stone | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Noah Hanifin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Jackson Blake | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||