Dylan Larkin just opened the door, and the Canadiens are watching closely

Dylan Larkin's trade list just got wider, and the Canadiens are still circling the Red Wings captain this Sunday morning.

That alone should make Detroit uneasy. When a captain opens the door to more destinations, the conversation stops being hypothetical.

Larkin did not dress Saturday night as the Red Wings dropped a 4-2 decision at home to Columbus.

Moritz Seider tried to drag them along with seven shots in 25:33 of ice time. It wasn't enough.

Montreal spent Saturday splitting a pair with Ottawa. Juraj Slafkovsky had a goal and two assists, including the winner, in a 4-2 win at home.

The other group dropped a 4-3 decision in Ottawa, with Kirby Dach logging 21:21. Martin St-Louis got a long look at his forward depth either way.

And that's where Larkin enters the chat. He's coming off 34 goals and 67 points in 74 games, the kind of line that doesn't need a sales pitch.

Kent Hughes faces an $8.7 million question in Detroit

Larkin carries an $8,700,000 cap hit through 2030-31. That sits just below the $9,500,000 Montreal already pays Noah Dobson on the blue line.

Squeezing in another number like that means real salary heading the other way. There's no clever accounting trick that makes it disappear.

Steve Yzerman isn't running a clearance sale, either. Detroit drafted Larkin 15th overall in 2014, and he's piled up 643 points over 808 games in a Red Wings sweater.

You don't move that player for a bag of futures. Detroit will want pieces that help now, and that's exactly where Montreal's patience gets tested.

Here's the part that should give Kent Hughes pause. The Red Wings captain turned 30 in July, and that deal runs into his age-34 season.

The recent track record isn't spotless. He went minus-16 in 2024-25 before bouncing back to a +3 rating last season.

So here's the line in the sand. If Detroit's price starts with anyone from Montreal's young core, Hughes should hang up the phone and not look back.

Trading the kids for a 30-year-old center is like selling the house to buy a nicer car. It feels great for about a year.

And does Larkin even want Montreal? A wider list doesn't automatically put the Canadiens on it, and the captain still holds real say over where he lands.

The two clubs meet in Montreal on Saturday, October 10. If Larkin is still wearing the winged wheel that night, every shift he takes doubles as an audition.

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Before that, the Canadiens head to Toronto on Tuesday. Whether Hughes is still working the phones on Detroit by then is the question hanging over that trip.

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