Dylan Larkin has given the Red Wings a fourth approved destination. TSN reported this week that Detroit’s captain has added the Dallas Stars to the no-trade list he first submitted in June, joining Florida, Minnesota and Vegas. A week ago, Minnesota looked like the only club still actively pushing for him. Dallas gives Steve Yzerman a second real conversation and, so far, a second dead end.
The two sides have talked, but the exploratory stage went nowhere fast. Detroit asked for Wyatt Johnston as the centerpiece coming back, and Dallas said no. Neither the ask nor the refusal is a shock: Johnston is seven years younger than Larkin, is coming off a 45-goal, 86-point season, and has not missed a game in four NHL seasons, all at an $8.4 million cap hit that nearly matches Larkin’s $8.7 million. Dallas countered by offering Jason Robertson, and Yzerman passed, wary that Robertson, who filed for salary arbitration this summer, would carry no guarantee of signing long term in Detroit.
The money is the whole problem. Dallas has about $10.6 million in cap space, per PuckPedia, but nearly all of it is spoken for by Robertson, whose arbitration hearing is set for July 25. Until that number lands, the Stars cannot seriously absorb Larkin’s five remaining years at $8.7 million, and Detroit has shown no interest in lowering its asking price to solve someone else’s cap crunch. The July 25 hearing effectively becomes the deadline: a Larkin-to-Dallas deal either takes shape before Robertson’s case is decided, or it likely waits.
For a rebuild that has spent two years preaching patience, holding the line here fits how Yzerman has operated. He is not going to move a franchise center for less than he thinks it is worth, and rosters are close enough to set that Larkin opening the season in Detroit is a real outcome rather than a negotiating bluff. The captain has made his preferences clear; the general manager has made his price clear. Neither has blinked.
For fantasy managers, Larkin’s outlook barely moves with the trade talk. Wherever he plays, he is a first-line center on the top power-play unit, and none of the destinations on his list would push him down a depth chart; a move to Dallas, Vegas or Florida might even upgrade his supporting cast. The name to watch is Johnston, whose keeper value only climbs the longer Dallas refuses to part with him, because a 45-goal season at 22 is exactly the kind of asset that anchors a dynasty roster. Robertson’s arbitration is the one to track: his new cap number will decide whether Dallas can add at all before the season.
