{"id":802345,"date":"2026-07-15T18:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802345\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T18:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T18:34:12","slug":"steve-yzermans-departure-as-red-wings-gm-adds-wrinkle-to-wilds-pursuit-of-dylan-larkin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802345\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Yzerman\u2019s departure as Red Wings GM adds wrinkle to Wild\u2019s pursuit of Dylan Larkin"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 Dylan Larkin has been a top target for the Minnesota Wild this summer since the Detroit Red Wings captain made his trade request<\/a> \u2014 and put Minnesota on his short list of preferred landing spots.<\/p>\n

But the shocking news out of Detroit on Wednesday that general manager Steve Yzerman is stepping back<\/a> into a senior adviser role \u2014 and the team is hiring a new head of hockey operations \u2014 undoubtedly adds the biggest wrinkle yet to the Wild\u2019s pursuit of Larkin.<\/p>\n

The Wild still felt over the past few weeks that there was a path to get Larkin even though their trade offer, which almost assuredly centered around futures, clearly didn\u2019t entice Yzerman. So, at a minimum, Wednesday\u2019s news means there will be a further delay as Detroit looks for a new head of hockey operations.<\/p>\n

The biggest issue for the Wild isn\u2019t that the news kills a Larkin trade. It\u2019s that it removes whatever momentum there was toward one. Detroit suddenly has every reason to pause, let a new executive settle in, meet with Larkin and reassess before making arguably the biggest decision the franchise has made in years.<\/p>\n

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What is harder to tell \u2014 at least right away \u2014 is whether this new development will help or hurt the Wild\u2019s chances of landing their ever-elusive No. 1 center. Remember, the Wild have been holding out hope for Larkin \u2014 period. They essentially backed out of even attempting to trade for Vincent Trocheck this offseason because they were well aware Larkin wants to come to Minnesota.<\/p>\n

There are a few key variables at play here.<\/p>\n

What would be the direction of the Red Wings under a new GM \u2014 is it still a win-now mode to end the 10-year rebuild, or a change of plans into more of a retool, where futures and prospects might be more enticing?<\/p>\n

Can the new Red Wings brass patch up the relationship with Larkin to the point where the face of the franchise wants to stay? Or has that bridge already been burned, especially considering it may be hard for fans to forgive and forget, with Larkin, too, still seeking new scenery?<\/p>\n

For the moment, it won\u2019t change much for the Wild, because the pursuit of Larkin already seemed at a bit of a standstill \u2014 Minnesota had made it clear how it felt and what it was willing to offer, and Yzerman had made clear what he was willing to accept.<\/p>\n

The No. 1 center search was supposed to be the centerpiece of what\u2019s turned into a pretty concerning offseason for the Wild. Their big additions up front were Blake Coleman and Russian winger Maxim Shabanov, whom they\u2019re betting on as top-six options. They had to replace 150 combined points among the departures of Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Johansson and Vladimir Tarasenko. The Wild basically swapped Jake Middleton for Olli Maatta on their third defensive pair.<\/p>\n

All of that would be well and good if Minnesota still landed a top-flight center such as Larkin, the type of star the Wild believe would strengthen their long-term pitch to Quinn Hughes. For now, those extension talks continue.<\/p>\n

The Wild still believe they have one major thing working in their favor: Larkin\u2019s desire to come to Minnesota hasn\u2019t changed. That doesn\u2019t mean Detroit has to trade him anytime soon. In fact, Wednesday\u2019s news probably gives the organization every reason to see if a new front office can convince its captain to stay.<\/p>\n

But the problem for now, from Minnesota\u2019s perspective at least, is there are no real Plan B options out there up the middle. The Wild passed on the price for Trocheck, who was acquired by the division-rival Utah Mammoth for defenseman Sean Durzi, prospect Cole Beaudoin and a third-round pick in 2027. Utah also snagged Minnesota\u2019s top free-agent target, Edina legend Anders Lee.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Wednesday\u2019s news is so significant from the Wild\u2019s perspective. They didn\u2019t merely miss on centers this summer. They intentionally waited. They passed on opportunities because they believed there was still a realistic path to acquiring the player they wanted most. Whether that gamble ultimately pays off remains to be seen. But Yzerman\u2019s resignation almost certainly means the Wild are going to have to wait even longer to find out.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the concern. The Wild\u2019s entire offseason strategy depended on clarity in the Larkin situation. Yzerman\u2019s departure doesn\u2019t necessarily end their chances, but it injects uncertainty, delays a resolution and gives Detroit every reason to rethink a trade that had finally seemed possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 Dylan Larkin has been a top target for the Minnesota Wild this summer since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,3064,7524,575,85],"class_list":["post-802345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=802345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}