theathleticuk
ST.
PAUL, Minn.
Amidst the chaos of scores of league-shaking trades Tuesday, the Minnesota Wild continue to play the waiting game on their big fish, Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin.
The Wild are in daily contact with Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman and Larkins agent, Pat Brisson, in hopes of facilitating a trade, but there is no shortage of interest in the soon-to-be-30-year-old center, who would give Minnesota its long-needed No.
1 pivot and potentially the final piece in building a true Cup contender.
Advertisement The good news? The Wild were on Larkins original list of three teams he was interested in playing for, and Florida one of the three is almost certainly out after its Fathers Day splash of adding Brady Tkachuk.
The bad news? Larkin has expanded his list, and its painfully obvious that the Wild are short on the type of assets that Yzerman wants in exchange for his top center.
The fact that Yzerman, Brisson and Bill Guerin remain in daily contact, though, means Minnesota is still trying to find a way, perhaps the most logical yet complicated way being to find a third team that can help Detroit receive the type of assets it wants in a completed package.
How good is Larkin? How would he fit in Minnesota? We asked around.
These guys are rare, former NHL GM Craig Button said.
I like everything about him.
Dylan Larkin is a 1B all day long.
A terrific two-way center, said former NHLer Brian Engblom, now a Tampa Bay Lightning color analyst.
Hes the second tier of No.
1 centers, one scout said.
But Minnesota would be pretty good down the middle then.
No, Larkin is not a superstar like Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Leon Draisaitl or Jack Eichel true 1As up the middle.
But he is a well-rounded, lightning-fast, ultra-competitive center who is among the top of the second group.
Hes scored 30 goals in each of the past five seasons, is strong in the faceoff circle (career 52.8 percent) a need for the Wild and was a key cog on the 18-for-18 penalty kill that helped Team USA win the Olympic gold medal.
Hes very similar to (Joel Eriksson) Ek, said former NHLer Ray Ferraro, now an ESPN analyst.
Now you have two almost the same centers.
But if thats the case, and youre playing them both 18 to 21 minutes, now youre looking at (Michael) McCarron signed, pretty soon youre fine.
Advertisement Yeah, its different.
Its not a traditional 1-2-3-4, center spot.
Larkins a shooter hes not a creator so if youre thinking about who hes going to play with, to me, its not necessarily, Oh, hes going to feed (Kirill) Kaprizov.
Hes a shooter.
Hes great on the power play in the bumper one of the best in the league.
In my opinion, along with his competitiveness, those are his strengths.
Button agreed that just because hes not a McDavid or MacKinnon doesnt mean it cant work.
Its like No.
1 defensemen.
Every team has a No.
1 defenseman, he said.
The true No.
1s, what there are 12, 13 guys? Same thing with centers.
I dont think theres 10.
The next group is really, really good, and Dylan fits into that category.
What former NHLer Mike Rupp likes about Larkin and the Wild is that he fits their identity.
From Kaprizov, Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy down, theyre built around winning puck battles.
And Larkin is that kind of guy, too.
Hes defensively responsible and versatile enough to play down the lineup, as he did at the Olympics and 4 Nations Face-Off, or drive a top line.
It would certainly be an upgrade, Rupp said.
Its been a really good team for what theyve had.
Larkin doesnt ad-lib too much.
Hes not an independent contractor that tries to generate offense at the cost of everything.
He plays within the team concept, which is why I think its a really good fit.
Said Engblom: Hes always been a very conscientious player.
He knows the game.
Hes not gambling all the time.
He puts points on the board.
Hes got some real serious skill.
I dont think he fades away in games that get tough or more intense.
I havent seen that.
There are concerns, of course.
The Wilds other centers, like Eriksson Ek and Ryan Hartman, are more of shooters versus dynamic playmakers.
And it will be very important for Minnesota to have guys who can get their two biggest stars and 40-goal scorers, Boldy and Kaprizov, the puck.
Advertisement Thats why its a little worrisome that the Wild look like theyre walking Mats Zuccarello to the July 1 opening of free agency unsigned.
Zuccarello has been caught up in the Wilds waiting game for Larkin, as theyre wary of committing any dollars right now to players until they find out if they can execute the Larkin trade.
But lets be honest: Theyre going to need wingers in free agency, so the fact theyre not willing to sign Zuccarello, who turns 39 by next season, now means they could be ready to simply cut the cord.
Fair or not, the Wild were livid about how they played in Game 4 of their second-round series against Colorado after such a dominant Game 3.
Theres a sense that Kaprizov depends too much on Zuccarello and that Zuccarello drags Kaprizov into the east-west game thats the opposite of how the Wild want to play.
Still, Ferraro says that because Larkin and Eriksson Ek arent puck distributors, be careful what you wish for in letting Zuccarello, fourth in franchise history with 271 assists, exit stage right.
Zuccarello is one of those guys for me that almost every year I think this has got to be the last one, and then he gets 45 assists, and Im like, Oh, its not the last one, Ferraro said.
The money has to fit, however its going to fit, but any deal with Zuccarello now is a one-year deal.
So it becomes really manageable.
Heres the other thing: If you delete him from your roster, who are you replacing him with? That type of player is a really tough player to find, because he doesnt need major minutes to create a play.
Thats a really, really small platform.
Of course, if the Wild can add a winger or two in free agency to put on the second line, one option is moving Boldy up to the top line.
Hes as good a passer as he is a shooter.
At the end of the day, you have two guys that had 40 goals this past year that dont have a prototypical centericeman, as far as top end, Rupp said of Kaprizov and Boldy.
Worst-case scenario, Larkin is on his own line, but hes self-sufficient.
He can drive his own line if you want it.
It can take pressure off the other guys.
Advertisement The Wild would have Larkin, Eriksson Ek and McCarron as their top three centers, with the option of moving Hartman to the wing.
Thats one less top-nine wing spot to fill, with Marcus Johansson signing in Sweden and the returns of Zuccarello and Vladimir Tarasenko cloudy.
Anytime you bring in a player like Larkin, itll take some adjusting in terms of lines and chemistry.
With all due respect for Hartman, hes not a 1, hes not a 2, Ferraro said.
Hes best suited as a 3.
Yes, I think it can work.
One of the reasons is that both Ek and Larkin are such competitive players.
Theyll make up for the attributes of the one that they dont have, and I think you can create it in the aggregate.
No.
1 centers, unless you draft him, where are you getting him? Its a rarity that they could be moved.
Ken Holland says theres no hockey player store.
Everybody can see what a teams deficiencies are.
We can all go around the league and say, Oh, this team needs a D, that team needs a scoring winger, and where do you go get them? Theres no hockey player store.
Cant go buy one.
Rupp pointed out that Eichel and Mitch Marner didnt work together well in Vegas despite the two players obvious talents.
Its a challenge coach John Hynes will be happy to have, especially with his background with Larkin as a U.S.
assistant coach.
He could fit anywhere, Engblom said of Larkin.
Look how he played at the Olympics.
If you have enough talent, coaches are going to say, Well find a spot for you.
Well figure it out.
The thing that gets GMs in trouble, and its not their fault you can look generation after generation and big-time players get traded and you go, This guy is going to be great.
And its not.
Well, its the coachs job to put him somewhere else where its great.
Chemistry is that weird thing where you put the chemicals together and you hope you dont blow up the lab.
And sometimes thats what happens.
Sometimes it blows up.
But if Larkin goes to Minnesota, they have more than one talented player, and Im sure one guy that he can be attached to.
Ferraro also thinks Larkin would be much better in Minnesota than he is in Detroit simply because of the caliber of players around him and shedding the pressure of continually missing the postseason.
Advertisement He looks frustrated, he said.
I do think, in some regard, hes miscast as a No.
1 center.
Because hes not.
Like, to be a No.
1 center, to me, its a 90-point guy.
But I would say Carolina doesnt have a No.
1 center.
(Sebastian) Aho, to me, would be a 2.
Jack Eichel is a 1, (but Carolina won the Stanley Cup).
Its not like you need a 1, but you cant have a 2 and then a bunch of 3-minuses, which is kind of what Detroit has.
The problem that Detroit has run into is you had Larkin and then you had (Andrew) Copp and (J.T.) Compher, and theyre kind of the same guy.
Theres no creator, and that really becomes difficult to generate enough offense.
Rupp agreed with Ferraro that there could be untapped potential with Larkin if you surround him with a different level of talent.
He hasnt really played with high-end guys like Kaprizov and Boldy, Rupp said.
Maybe theres the unknown there, too.
He can make plays off the rush.
He hasnt hit (40 goals) yet.
Maybe the stars align, and hes a 40-goal scorer.
Engblom has seen players choose the Lightning and Florida Panthers because of their winning pedigree, the warm weather and tax advantages.
But he said it should be noteworthy that players, whether its Brady Tkachuk or Larkin, have Minnesota on their short lists of places to go.
Steven Stamkos had Minnesota as one of three places hed agree to get moved to at this past years trade deadline, too.
Quinn Hughes obviously approved his blockbuster deal to the Wild in mid-December, and after Guerin met with him in New Jersey earlier this offseason, he came away thinking that extending him will be a much easier negotiation than extending Kaprizov was last summer.
A Larkin acquisition would likely make Hughes even more enthusiastic about staying.
Its not just Florida or Tampa, its Minnesota, Engblom said.
Thats really something, a feather in Guerins cap and the entire group, the coaching staff.
They put a talented group together and now players are saying, Hmmm.
Everyone wants to go where its warm and blah, blah, blah.
I get it.
We have good warm weather here.
But with Minnesota, people can say, Were cold just like you guys are, and players want to come here.
Theres no doubt that players like Kaprizov, Boldy and Hughes have turned the Wild into an appealing spot for players around the league.
Now, they sit and wait and hope they can find a way to sway Yzerman to send his captain west.
Advertisement If they strike out or Yzerman chooses to wait to move Larkin later in the summer, itll be interesting to see their Plan B.
Its not as simple as moving on to Vincent Trocheck since hed require significant assets, and we know the Wild have few remaining.
They could simply continue to be patient and wait for that perfect center Larkin or another (Auston Matthews?) to shake from the trees later this offseason or into next season.