The Boston Bruins need a No. 1 center. One may have just become available.
According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin recently requested a trade.
While not a truly elite point-producer, the 29-year-old Larkin is consistently in the 65-80 point range. He has topped 30 goals in five straight seasons. He plays in all situations and averages over 20:00 of ice time per game. He is an excellent skater and transporter of the puck. He is good defensively. He is consistently somewhere around 52-55% on faceoffs. And he is signed at a very reasonable $8.7 million cap hit for five more years.
While there has been speculation around the potential availability of St. Louis' Robert Thomas, and maybe even New Jersey's Nico Hischier, Larkin's reported trade request immediately vaults him to the front of the line when it comes to the center trade market.
Given how awkward it could be for Larkin to remain in Detroit after this, it seems more likely than not he actually does get traded – something you can't say about Thomas or Hischier at the moment.
So, could the Bruins be the team that gets Larkin? Well… maybe. Let's run through some of the key factors:
For starters, Larkin has a full no-trade clause. That means he'll have a lot of say in where he ends up. He might give general manager Steve Yzerman a list of teams he's willing to go to, or he might even try to angle his way to one specific team. Half the league or more is probably at least making a call.
If Larkin doesn't want to be a Bruin, then this whole discussion is over before it even starts. There are reasons he might be interested, though. David Pastrnak would be the best wing he's ever played with. He is friends with Charlie McAvoy and the two just won Olympic gold together. Jeremy Swayman is better than any goalie Detroit has had since Jimmy Howard in the 2010s. Larkin hasn't been to the playoffs since he was a 19-year-old rookie in 2016, while the Bruins have made the playoffs every year but one since then.
If he is interested in Boston, do the Bruins have the pieces to get a deal done? The cost to acquire Larkin could depend on how many teams he's willing to go to. The longer the list, the more teams Yzerman can bounce off each other before accepting the best package. He would probably prefer to send Larkin to the Western Conference instead of a division rival.
Either way, the price will be high. As it relates to the Bruins, you would have to imagine any ask from the Wings would start with James Hagens. Detroit would immediately be in search of center options to replace Larkin, and Hagens does offer that upside. While the Wings already have a very good prospect pool, a center like Hagens is something it lacks. The Bruins would run the risk of Hagens developing into someone who might be just as good as, or better than Larkin. If it's not Hagens, maybe it's Dean Letourneau for all the same reasons.
The Wings would also be interested in draft capital after trading away their first-round pick this year and second-round pick next year. The Bruins have eight picks in the first two rounds over the next three years, including five first-rounders. They can offer draft capital.
You also wonder if Yzerman would want a roster player or two. While the Larkin window may be closing for them, they still have pillars like Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond just entering their mid-20s. They may want to keep pushing forward and not tear everything down all over again. Would they want Pavel Zacha for help down the middle or Mason Lohrei to inject more offense into their defense corps?
Between all those assets, you can see the makings of a package that could interest Detroit. Bruins GM Don Sweeney would almost certainly have to part with a couple pieces he really doesn't want to, but that's the cost of business when you're looking for a 1C.
Larkin would line up with Pastrak, McAvoy and Swayman in terms of their prime years – prime years that might be wasted if the Bruins don't find a legitimate first-line center at some point soon.
"We all in this room recognize we don't have a true number one [center]," Bruins president Cam Neely said last month. "And that's something that we want to try to rectify, whether it's this offseason or those guys [Hagens and Fraser Minten] growing into it. But it's something that we know that's needed."
Maybe the Bruins have the patience and the belief to wait to see if Hagens, Minten or Letourneau eventually claim that 1C job. Or maybe they identify Larkin as their guy and make a real run at him right now.
