The Minnesota Wild‘s pursuit of Dylan Larkin just lost its negotiating partner. Ten days after The Athletic’s Michael Russo described Minnesota as the only active bidder for Detroit’s captain, Russo and Joe Smith report that Steve Yzerman’s move out of the general manager’s chair means a further delay for any Larkin deal, because the Red Wings are unlikely to trade their franchise center until a new head of hockey operations is in place.
The shape of the negotiation to this point is well established. Larkin’s approved list reportedly runs four teams — Florida, Minnesota, Vegas and, as of last week, the Dallas Stars — but only Bill Guerin has stayed at the table. The obstacles were equally clear: Larkin’s $8.7 million cap hit against roughly $2.9 million of Wild space, per Russo’s earlier reporting, and a Detroit ask built around NHL-ready players, per MLive’s Ansar Khan, that ran straight into Minnesota’s refusal to discuss Matt Boldy.
What changed this week is who Guerin would even call. Detroit’s search has no announced timeline, with Kris Draper reported by the Detroit News as an early internal candidate alongside external names, and Yzerman staying on in an advisory role. Any momentum toward a summer deal effectively resets until that chair is filled.
My read: the delay is not automatically bad news for Minnesota. Yzerman’s price — established roster players back — was the version of this trade the Wild could least afford, because it meant spending from the homegrown core rather than the prospect shelf. A new general manager taking over a team whose captain has asked out may prefer futures and cap flexibility, and picks and prospects are the currency Guerin can spend without touching the players he has drafted and developed. The risk cuts the other way too: a new executive could reopen the bidding entirely, and a one-team market has a way of growing once the seller changes.
For fantasy purposes, keep Larkin priced as a Red Wing — the trade timeline now runs through a GM hire that hasn’t happened, and training camp is a realistic horizon. The Minnesota outcome remains the upside case, with top-line center minutes and first-unit power-play time next to Kirill Kaprizov, but it is not something to pay for in August drafts.
