{"id":750856,"date":"2026-07-08T16:54:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/750856\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T16:54:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:54:18","slug":"big-dominoes-remain-for-red-wings-this-offseason-even-beyond-dylan-larkin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/750856\/","title":{"rendered":"Big dominoes remain for Red Wings this offseason, even beyond Dylan Larkin"},"content":{"rendered":"

With free agency having (largely) come and gone, and Dylan Larkin\u2019s trade request still unresolved<\/a>, it\u2019s totally unclear when Detroit Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman will make what will likely be the biggest move of his tenure.<\/p>\n

That looms over everything<\/a> about this Red Wings offseason.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not the only bit of business still needing to be done. And while the Larkin domino is certainly the biggest in Detroit, three other major decisions are coming that will have huge impacts on the Red Wings in 2026 and beyond.<\/p>\n

NHL free agency: Early winners and losers<\/p>\n

Shayna Goldman and Madison Eades<\/p>\n

Patrick Kane<\/p>\n

A week into free agency, Kane still hasn\u2019t picked where he\u2019ll play in 2026-27.<\/p>\n

As recently as the draft, Yzerman acknowledged the Red Wings still want the future Hall of Famer back in Detroit this season. And certainly there remains room for him in the top six, even after the signing of Viktor Arvidsson. But given all that, it\u2019s also fair to believe that if Kane was dead-set on returning, he likely would have signed by now.<\/p>\n

As long as Kane is still out there, the Red Wings can hold out some sliver of hope that he\u2019ll wind up returning to the city where he\u2019s signed three consecutive one-year deals. But they realistically have to be planning for the possibility he\u2019ll land elsewhere. And if that happens, it\u2019s another blow to whatever competitive chances they currently have in 2026-27.<\/p>\n

While Kane has his warts at this stage of his career, he was still a big part of the Red Wings\u2019 offensive push last season, especially at five-on-five. His 2.03 points per 60 ranked second on the team, trailing only his linemate Alex DeBrincat. That\u2019s a strength of Arvidsson\u2019s game<\/a> too, but ideally, the Red Wings would be adding Arvidsson to what they already had. Kane was also a key piece of Detroit\u2019s power play, as the team\u2019s most creative facilitator.<\/p>\n

So if Kane leaves, even if Arvidsson ends up replacing Kane\u2019s production \u2014 albeit in a different style, as an interior scorer compared to Kane\u2019s playmaking \u2014 that likely ends up being more like a lateral move. And with the expected subtraction of Larkin (eventually), that would amount to going backward on the whole.<\/p>\n

The Red Wings could still pivot elsewhere in the event Kane leaves \u2014 Eeli Tolvanen is 27 and only one year removed from a season with more than 20 goals and 200 hits \u2014 but players with Kane\u2019s level of intelligence and playmaking are hard to find, and harder to replace. And really, it would leave Detroit to again rely heavily on internal improvements from their young players.<\/p>\n

That could happen. Marco Kasper should bounce back from a down sophomore season. Emmitt Finnie had 21 individual expected goals last season but converted only 13 \u2014 making a step forward seem possible there, too (though playing on a line with Larkin, of course, helped). Maybe Michael Brandsegg-Nyg\u00e5rd\u2019s heavy game and big shot make the bottom six more threatening.<\/p>\n

The continued infusion of youth should bring a certain energy to the lineup. And by adding Arvidsson and Keegan Kolesar, perhaps the Red Wings start to shift their broader lineup identity too.<\/p>\n

But any way you frame it, losing Kane \u2014 in addition to whatever plays out with Larkin \u2014 would be a blow, and another reason to expect a step back in 2026-27.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Alex DeBrincat has a year left on his current contract. (Kyle Ross \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Alex DeBrincat<\/p>\n

While Kane and DeBrincat\u2019s friendship makes it tempting to link these two situations, Kane\u2019s age (37) means DeBrincat\u2019s decision about his future needs to be made independently.<\/p>\n

One year from becoming an unrestricted free agent, and thus eligible for an extension, DeBrincat is in line for a huge raise on his next deal \u2014 and maybe more than we even realized a month or two ago. At the time, the main parameter-setting contract was Adrian Kempe ($10.625 million for eight years), and Alex Tuch\u2019s eight-year deal at $10.5 million reinforced that for a late-20s scorer.<\/p>\n

DeBrincat has outproduced both of them, though, and after seeing what kind of money NHL teams were willing to throw around for Jason Robertson<\/a> and now Leo Carlsson<\/a> \u2014 although Carlsson is much younger and a center, so certainly not a perfect comparable \u2014 it\u2019s fair to wonder what could be out there a year from now for DeBrincat, a three-time 40-goal scorer who was 11th in NHL goals and 19th in points last season.<\/p>\n

In other words, the Red Wings need to come correct with their offers to DeBrincat, even if that number is over (and possibly well over) $11 million. It\u2019s a lot of money, but it\u2019s the new way of the world in the NHL. And if they don\u2019t pay it, the odds are good that someone else will a year from now.<\/p>\n

Where Kane (and Larkin) could come into play here is in sizing up Detroit\u2019s competitive timeline. If both indeed depart, leading to a step back, what would that mean for the 28-year-old DeBrincat\u2019s interest in sticking around? He\u2019s a hometown product, and while he hasn\u2019t had to live through quite as much losing in Detroit as Larkin, the Red Wings\u2019 direction in his remaining prime years could matter. That\u2019s a factor that money can\u2019t totally account for.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve said all along that I think the Red Wings have to do everything they can to keep DeBrincat. Doing so feels critical for retooling quickly enough to contend in Moritz Seider\u2019s and Lucas Raymond\u2019s primes (they are already 25 and 24, respectively).<\/p>\n

The Red Wings don\u2019t technically have to sign DeBrincat to an extension this summer, with a year left on his current contract. But getting a deal done sooner would prevent this one from looming all year. And with the cap set to rise again in a year, it may save Detroit some money, too. Letting a player get too close to the open market is always a risk.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\n Simon Edvinsson is a key part of the Red Wings\u2019 present and future. (Sarah Stier \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Simon Edvinsson<\/p>\n

Edvinsson, meanwhile, does need his contract situation resolved this summer. He\u2019s a restricted free agent and is also in line for a major pay raise.<\/p>\n

Of course, he\u2019s not going to get the staggering $12.5 million AAV Bowen Byram received from the Chicago Blackhawks. But young defensemen are getting paid in a big way right now, even on medium-term deals.<\/p>\n

Pavel Mintyukov ($7.2 million AAV) and Brandt Clarke ($7.4 million) both got large numbers on five-year deals, and that\u2019s with neither cracking 20 minutes per game last season. Meanwhile, Edvinsson, while not producing quite as much as Clarke, was north of 22 minutes, including taking tough defensive matchups.<\/p>\n

On a five-year deal, Edvinsson probably still slots in above both because of his role. But really, the Red Wings should be looking to go even longer with Edvinsson. At the rate the cap is going up, the best course of action is to extend young players as long as possible.<\/p>\n

For that reason, Luke Hughes\u2019 $9 million AAV still looks like a meaningful bar on a long-term deal. That would put Edvinsson above Seider on the Red Wings\u2019 pay scale, but again: that\u2019s the reality in the NHL right now. It\u2019s a different cap structure. And as Anaheim is learning in the most painful way with Carlsson, grinding young players just for the sake of saving some money doesn\u2019t always end well.<\/p>\n

Seider and Lucas Raymond\u2019s contract negotiations dragged into mid-September in 2024. And while that did result in two great contracts for the Red Wings, Detroit still left a year on the table with Seider, signing him for seven years instead of eight and keeping his AAV down at $8.55 million. They\u2019ll end up paying way more for that last year when his next deal comes around.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lesson there. And an even bigger one with DeBrincat, whom Detroit signed for just four years after acquiring him. How badly are they wishing they had gone eight years with him right now?<\/p>\n

Edvinsson is a key part of the Red Wings\u2019 present and future. And while the number he can command on a long-term deal will be high, it won\u2019t be as high as whatever it would be after a bridge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With free agency having (largely) come and gone, and Dylan Larkin\u2019s trade request still unresolved, it\u2019s totally unclear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":750857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1786,385,99],"class_list":["post-750856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-detroit-red-wings","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}