Dylan Larkin remains at the center of Detroit's summer, and the Red Wings still can't move him anywhere he doesn't want to go.
According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, several teams have expressed real interest in Larkin, including the Sharks, Kraken and Devils.
But Larkin hasn't budged. He still hasn't been willing to significantly expand his list of teams, per Pagnotta's report Saturday.
That's a problem for Steve Yzerman, who keeps burning the lines trying to find a trade that actually works.
David Pagnotta: “Several other teams have expressed interest in Dylan Larkin, including the Sharks, Kraken and Devils, but Larkin has not yet been willing to significantly expand his list of teams.”
Larkin posted 67 points in 74 games this season, with 34 goals and 9 game-winning markers, numbers that still scream top-line center in most buildings.
His last 10 stretch was better than the team around him, 11 points in 10 games, including 9 points over his final 5.
Detroit finished the year at 41-31-10, a rank of 16 overall and 6th in the division, closing on a three-game slide and dropping the finale 1-8 at Florida.
Why Yzerman keeps hitting a wall on Larkin trades
Here's the thing about a no-movement list that isn't official but functions like one anyway. It's like trying to sell a house where the owner keeps changing which rooms buyers are allowed to see.
Yzerman doesn't have a full no-trade clause to point to publicly here, but he's dealing with the same practical headache. Interested teams exist. The player controls the map.
Larkin carries a cap hit of 8,700,000, signed at age 29, smack in the middle of prime years for a center who can still produce at that level.
That's exactly why suitors keep circling even as talks stall. Nobody walks away from a player who put up 67 points on a losing team.
The Sharks, Kraken and Devils name recognition tells you this isn't a fringe rumor. These are organizations doing real work on a real name.
Whether Yzerman can talk his captain into widening the list, or whether Detroit just holds onto him into next season, is still very much unresolved.
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For a franchise that hasn't found its center of the rebuild yet, this decision might matter more than anything else Detroit does this summer.
Should Dylan Larkin have final say on where he gets traded?
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