Dylan Larkin's trade price just got a face, and for the Red Wings it starts with a proven young top-six forward.
David Pagnotta laid it out Tuesday on The Sheet Podcast, saying he'd heard the framework "as recently as yesterday." Fresh intel, three days before Detroit hosts the Rangers.
The key phrase was "primary pieces." Pagnotta described "a proven young current top 6 caliber forward, controllable" as the equivalent, and was careful to add that it isn't "the overall package."
So that forward is only the headliner. More would have to come behind it.
Why would anyone pay that? Because Larkin scored 34 goals and 67 points in 74 games last season, and finished a +3.
The clip catches the moment Pagnotta splits the return in two, primary pieces on one side, the full package on the other.
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Five straight 30-goal seasons and one playoff run in Detroit
That 34-goal year was his fifth straight 30-goal campaign. He hit 31, 32, 33 and 30 in the four seasons before it.
The ugly part sits in the playoff column. The center's only postseason action came in 2015-16, when he played five games and scored one goal.
Career-wise, he's at 808 games, 276 goals and 643 points, every NHL game of it in Detroit. The Red Wings drafted him 15th overall in 2014.
He turned 30 on July 30. That's the uncomfortable math for Steve Yzerman: peak production right now, and no promise the next contending window lines up with it.
Pricing him on one young forward is like selling a house based on the kitchen alone. Pagnotta's caveat about the rest of the package carries real weight.
If a contender puts a controllable top-six forward on the table with real depth behind it, Yzerman should take the call. One playoff trip in 11 NHL seasons is a long wait.
Todd McLellan's group is coming off a 4-2 home loss to Columbus on Saturday. The Rangers visit Friday.
Every Larkin shift from here gets watched by two audiences. The crowd in Detroit, and whoever is on the phone with Yzerman.
Should Steve Yzerman trade Dylan Larkin for a controllable top-six forward?
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