Dylan Larkin: Is the Canadiens the Wild’s biggest rival in a trade?

If Bill Guerin really wants to land Dylan Larkin, he may have to pull out all the stops.

And that's not necessarily good news for the Minnesota Wild's general manager.

In a report by Anthony Di Marco (Daily Faceoff), we learn that an Eastern Conference executive believes the Wild are in a particularly vulnerable position in negotiations.

According to this source, Minnesota needs to win now.

The window is open, and Guerin can't afford to sit idly by while other teams improve their rosters. The problem? This situation could actually work against him in the discussions surrounding Larkin… and that's what might open the door for the Canadiens, who appear to be the Wild's biggest rival in all of this. 

That said, Larkin would still have to agree to play in Montreal…

Anthony Di Marco – Larkin – #mnwild | Checking in with an Eastern Conference executive to get a sense of the league's perspective on the matter, DFO was told that the Wild “have to win now” and that they will have to take a loss on any trade to acquire Larkin. In a “win-now” window, the executive went on to say that the Wild are “out of options” and that any team trading with them should “win the deal by a mile.” #LGRW #NHL

— R i N K Y (@RinkyReport) October 30, 2026

Elliotte Friedman (Sportsnet) is also starting to get impatient with the Dylan Larkin situation.

The insider even offered up a little prayer that Bill Guerin, Kent Hughes, or any other general manager would finally close a deal.

“My God, please use your power to get Bill Guerin or Kent Hughes (or anyone else) to close this trade, so we can all stop talking about it.” – Elliotte Friedman

And the fact that Friedman mentions only Bill Guerin and Kent Hughes in the discussion is interesting in its own way…

We'll have to wait and see. But everything indicates that, right now, these are the two clubs being the most aggressive in this situation…

In a nutshell

– Oh yeah?

Who else knew Gritty's full name was “Gritwald G. Grittington”?

RIP Patrick Stewart

(via @CBS) https://t.co/tGWvPyjbNh

— BarDown (@BarDown) October 30, 2026

– Makes sense.

The Red Wings sound like they're ready to move on without Dylan Larkin—their former captain—after he let the team and his teammates down by demanding a trade and using his no-trade clause to limit the number of teams he's willing to be traded to.

— Stu Cowan (@StuCowan1) October 30, 2026

– Interesting.

My colleague Gord raises some good questions #IIHF

— Stephane Leroux (@StephRDSJunior) October 30, 2026

– Yeah.

The club's name came up in the discussion. https://t.co/8FKE2hRQwZ https://t.co/J0AjXR8Flw

— Passion MLB (@passion_mlb) October 30, 2026