Larkin Declines to Say Whether Trade Request Still Stands

Dylan Larkin talked to his teammates Thursday about the trade request he made in the offseason, then told reporters on the first day of Red Wings training camp that he is not ready to explain it.

He would not say whether the request still stands, would not name the teams he would accept a move to, and would not say whether he wants to stay in Detroit.

"It wasn't easy to get to that decision. It was very hard. It wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thing," Larkin said. "But I don't take what I did lightly, and I got to that point, and I'm not quite ready to talk about it."

Larkin, 30, is no longer the captain. The Red Wings announced last week that he would report to camp and that the team would open the season without a captain.

"I asked for a trade from the Detroit Red Wings as the captain, and actions have consequences, and I understand why that decision was made, and I'm going to be professional about it," he said.

He did not skate in the first practice because of an upper-body injury suffered in an off-ice workout. "I got hurt in the gym working out," Larkin said. "I'm pushing to get healthy. I want to be out there. It was very unfortunate timing."

Asked if he regretted how any of it unfolded, he said no. He also said he never intended for the request to become public.

The backdrop: Detroit announced July 15 that Steve Yzerman would move from general manager to senior adviser, and on Tuesday named assistant GM Shawn Horcoff interim GM while the search for a new head of hockey operations continues.

"We've had good talks with Dylan, we're understanding of where he's come from and we're going to take this day by day," Horcoff said.

Larkin has spent all 11 of his NHL seasons with the Red Wings and ranks 10th in franchise history with 643 points (276 goals, 367 assists) in 808 games. He has five seasons left on the eight-year, $69.6 million contract he signed in 2023.

"I just want to play," he said. "I'm a hockey player."