yardbarker
According to Elliotte Friedman, Dylan Larkin is set to play in tonight's game against the Ottawa Senators, assuming he gets cleared by doctors. This development follows two roster moves by the Red Wings, one of which placed the center on injured reserve.
Head coach Todd McLellan had previously told Max Bultman of The Athletic that Larkin would miss the first two games of the regular season due to an upper-body injury sustained just before training camp. However, because Larkin's IR placement is retroactive to August 15th, Detroit can activate him at any time. It was anticipated that he would play today, especially since McLellan mentioned the team was hopeful Larkin would return for their third game on October 6th.
At practice, Larkin skated on the top line alongside Lucas Raymond and Viktor Arvidsson. Other injury updates include Marco Kasper and Mason Appleton being out week-to-week, while J.T. Compher is day-to-day.
If Larkin plays tonight, it will be his first game in a Red Wings sweater since he requested a trade. Larkin's trade request was the first major NHL news of the summer, and yet he remains with the team for now. Given that he is playing, a trade does not appear imminent.
The Waterford, MI native finished the 2025-26 season with 67 points in 74 games and a +3 rating. After 11 seasons with the Red Wings, Larkin was stripped of the captaincy, a role he had held since the 2021 season. Long-brewing tensions between Larkin and GM Steve Yzerman led to a breakdown in their relationship, prompting the player to seek a fresh start. As a result, Yzerman lost his position as the team's hockey operations manager earlier this summer as he searched for a trade partner for his star center.
In June, it was reported that Larkin wanted to be traded to one of three teams: the Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights, and Minnesota Wild, according to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic later reported that Larkin's list was short, and he added the Dallas Stars, as reported by Ansar Khan of MLive.com.
Max Bultman wrote that Larkin did not want to state the reasons behind his trade request. He does not regret his decision but said he wasn't ready to directly address the reasoning: "I understand that there's answers that fans and people that care about this organization around the world want to know, but I'm really not ready to go there. And it's maybe something that I may never be, you know? And it wasn't easy to get to that decision. It was very hard. It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing. I don't take what I did lightly, and I got to that point, and I'm not quite ready to talk about it."
No suitable trade was found to move him. Fast forward to today, and the Red Wings have started the 2026-27 campaign with zero wins, having fallen to the Winnipeg Jets and New York Rangers. Before the season opener against the Rangers, Larkin was introduced to a Little Caesars Arena crowd that booed him as he waved from the bench. It remains to be seen how fans will receive him when he suits up for the 809th time in his career.
If and when Larkin is activated from injured reserve, the Red Wings will likely need to make room on the roster. Detroit currently has 13 forwards and eight defensemen, and his activation will begin another chapter in this saga.
Originally reported by yardbarker.