Dylan Larkin may have already played his last game for the Red Wings, and last night's boos only made a Detroit problem bigger.
The center was introduced with the scratches at the home opener, day-to-day and out of the lineup. The crowd booed him anyway.
Jim Biringer read it the same way. "I would be shocked if Dylan Larkin plays again for the Detroit Red Wings after this."
That's the bold part. The bigger part is what came after it: "Players talk. You don't think guys around the NHL saw this."
Biringer also pointed out that Larkin was left off when the team released its EA NHL ratings. He called it "calculated."
Detroit, he wrote, is left "wondering why guys don't want go there." That's the real problem now.
Simon Edvinsson and Larkin show why Detroit can't keep its stars
Larkin isn't the only one. Simon Edvinsson's situation has produced offer sheet chatter and, per David Pagnotta, "a few jabs tossed back and forth."
Two of the organization's most important players, a veteran and a young defenceman, sit in limbo at the same time. Under interim GM Shawn Horcoff, nothing feels stable.
-
Free agents notice that. They see a franchise's fans jeering a player who spent all 808 of his NHL games in Detroit, and they draw conclusions.
Larkin has played his last game in a Red Wings sweater. After last night, staying would require both sides to pretend nothing happened, and that rarely works in hockey.
It's like a restaurant yelling at its longtime regular, then wondering why new customers won't come through the door.
The trade price, per Pagnotta, starts with a proven young top-six forward. Every awkward night in Detroit chips away at the leverage behind that ask.
The Red Wings host Winnipeg on Sunday afternoon. Whether Larkin dresses or not, the fallout from the opener will follow this team into that building.
Fixing the roster is one job. Convincing players that Detroit is a place they want to be just became the harder one.
Has Dylan Larkin played his last game for the Red Wings?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Dylan Larkin gets booed by entire Red Wings arena and walks off the bench
