{"id":924396,"date":"2026-10-07T19:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T19:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924396\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T19:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T19:48:08","slug":"are-the-red-wings-open-to-rebuilding-the-rebuild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/924396\/","title":{"rendered":"Are the Red Wings open to rebuilding the rebuild?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching the cinema of Dylan Larkin<\/a>\u2019s season debut on Tuesday was like October in Alberta \u2014 three seasons all wrapped into one game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The former captain was booed mercilessly every time he touched the puck. There were some cheers when his goal gave the Red Wings the lead. And by the end, he skated back out to Little Caesars Arena to mostly applause when selected as first star of the game.<\/p>\n

Larkin is one of them, a true Michigander, and that\u2019s what hurts. He isn\u2019t just their former captain, their emotional leader. He also grew up a Wings fan and has played nearly all of his hockey inside a one-hour radius around Detroit \u2013 from minor hockey at Belle Tire to the U.S. National Development Team all the way through the Michigan Wolverines and into the NHL.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt good to be a hockey player again,\u201d Larkin\u00a0said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Collecting two points and a win was also a reminder of the tightrope the Red Wings, owner Chris Ilitch and interim GM Shawn Horcoff are trying to walk.<\/p>\n

They have been steadfast in their ask for Larkin, that they want young, NHL talent to remain competitive now.<\/p>\n

But something shifted in their conversations over the weekend with teams after Simon Edvinsson<\/a>\u2019s trade preference came to light via Elliotte Friedman on\u00a0Rogers Saturday Night Hockey. Sources say teams were told that the Red Wings would still rather have NHL-ready talent for Edvinsson, of course, but are open to considering the right package for Edvinsson that is more futures-based with prospects and draft picks.<\/p>\n

That departure has left teams wondering: is Detroit internally coming to grips with the notion that the rebuild needs to be rebuilt?<\/p>\n

The Red Wings have missed the playoffs 10 straight years \u2013 and that is with the core of Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Moritz Seider, Edvinsson and Alex DeBrincat.<\/p>\n

If a 23-year-old Edvinsson is out the door, Larkin is soon following, and DeBrincat is seemingly third priority now as a pending UFA\u2026then what?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nathan MacKinnon was right: You can\u2019t fight reality.<\/p>\n

Oilers keeping tabs on right-shooting, fourth-line centre<\/p>\n

Count the Edmonton Oilers among those who have kept tabs on Boston Bruins forward Matthew Poitras<\/a> in their quest to find a right-shooting centre to anchor their fourth line.<\/p>\n

Poitras\u2019 biggest supporter internally is coach Mike Babcock \u2013 and that worked out well for Alex Formenton in September.<\/p>\n

Poitras, 22, requires waivers now after back-to-back solid seasons in AHL Providence. He\u2019s played in just one of the Bruins\u2019 first four games and registered just over 11 minutes of ice time.<\/p>\n

The Oilers recognize the solution may be internal and have been encouraged by early returns from Owen Michaels<\/a>, one of the pleasant surprises of a truncated training camp.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve reported Edmonton\u2019s interest in Kirby Dach<\/a>, another right-shooting centre candidate. Calgary has also kept tabs on Dach. The Canadiens are trying to juggle Dach\u2019s value with his tenuous spot in their lineup and their push to make a big trade splash this season.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s different about Nikishin\u2019s status<\/p>\n

One added wrinkle to the Edvinsson negotiations is that the first year of his new contract will come at an increased salary cap hit with an in-season signing, now that we\u2019re a week into the season.<\/p>\n

To use round numbers, if Edvinsson agreed to a seven-year, $70 million extension today, the first year of that contract would hit the books at $10.4 million instead of the usual $10 million.<\/p>\n

It increases for every day missed in the season. The calculation: cap hit ($10 million) divided by the number of days remaining in the season (185), and then multiply that number by total days in the season (194).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s less of an issue for the Red Wings, who have space, than for an acquiring team.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, the same formula does\u00a0not\u00a0apply for Carolina\u2019s Alexander Nikishin<\/a>, as he is not a true restricted free agent by the definition in the CBA. He is a \u201c10.2(c)\u201d player without the right of first refusal via an offer sheet, and therefore, whatever he signs now in-season will have the same effect on the cap as a typical contract.<\/p>\n

The Hurricanes have been working with Nikishin\u2019s new agent, Paul Theofanous, to try and execute a trade.<\/p>\n

The deadline for RFAs to sign and be eligible for the season is Dec. 1 at 5 p.m. ET, but that also does not apply to Nikishin.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Before they dropped the gloves, when Islanders\u2019 Brayden Schenn lined up across from J.T. Miller on Tuesday night inside Madison Square Garden, Schenn told Miller: \u201cI\u2019ve gotta welcome myself to the rivalry.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 Patrik Laine isn\u2019t the only free agent forward the Calgary Flames are in conversation with after a rough start to the season. Still unsigned: Vladimir Tarasenko, David Perron, James van Riemsdyk, Jonathan Drouin.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Re: Flames expectations \u2014 I\u2019m not sure we\u2019ve properly accounted for a team that has said goodbye to Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman, Rasmus Andersson and Mackenzie Weegar in the last nine months. That\u2019s a lot.<\/p>\n

\u2022 As the Flyers scour the defence market, wouldn\u2019t Edvinsson be a great fit in Philadelphia? He checks the box on size (6-foot-3), age (23) and high-end potential.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Early predictions for deadline players in-demand if their team is selling: Vancouver\u2019s Paul Cotter<\/a>, Philadelphia\u2019s Nick Seeler and New Jersey\u2019s Brenden Dillon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The uptick in fights to begin the season has brought added juice. But should linesmen stop a fight when the opponent has pulled a jersey overhead and keeps wailing away? That\u2019s what happened to Dillon on Tuesday, his forehead covered in welts after being blindfolded by Jack McBain<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u2022 According to\u00a0Sportsnet Stats<\/a>, Tuesday\u2019s Leafs-Predators game was the fourth in NHL history to have four No. 1 overall picks each score a goal (John Tavares, Auston Matthews, Gavin McKenna and Steven Stamkos). We\u2019ve got the potential for five in one game this season: Blackhawks (Patrick Kane, Connor Bedard), Oilers (Connor McDavid, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins), Sabres (Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power) and Devils (Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watching the cinema of Dylan Larkin\u2019s season debut on Tuesday was like October in Alberta \u2014 three seasons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":923971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-924396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/923971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}