Dylan Larkin was stripped of his captaincy

Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Dylan Larkin was stripped of his captaincy
Credit: Capture d'écran / X

The influence of star players has been the talk of the NHL.

I've always said this: players have the right to request a trade, but teams have the right to ignore players' requests if it doesn't suit them.

And if they're willing to live with the discomfort that comes with it.

One of the biggest talking points this summer has been the Dylan Larkin situation. I've always maintained that the team had the right to keep him (and even strip him of his captain's “C”) to show him who's boss.

Okay, bad example since no one knows who's in charge with the Red Wings—a team that fired Steve Yzerman and still hasn't replaced him just days before training camp… but you get my point.

And now the Red Wings have just done exactly that: not only did they announce that Larkin would be reporting to his team's training camp, but on top of that, he's no longer the team's captain.

The season will start without a captain, as they say.

If Larkin had refused to show up for training camp, the team could have suspended him. But now, that distraction won't exist since the forward will be there with his teammates.

Once a head of hockey operations is named, the club will see what it decides to do with Larkin. But it won't be any time soon that he'll be traded.

The situation is being handled poorly in Detroit, but at least stripping Larkin of the captaincy sends the right message. He would have had a hard time representing the team under the current circumstances.

We'll see how the next few weeks play out in Michigan.


In Brief

– Note.

– Here we go.

– Speaking of trade requests.

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