Dylan Larkin has not expanded his trade list, as Yzerman digs in

Dylan Larkin submitted a three-team trade list to Steve Yzerman shortly after last season, and hasn't expanded it since.

Yzerman wants proven NHL players in return for the Red Wings' No. 1 center, and isn't lowering the bar.

Both sides are holding firm. But if Larkin truly wants out of Detroit, he's the one who might have to budge.

Since requesting a trade to either Minnesota, Florida or Vegas, Larkin has not expanded his list of destinations, per Helene St. James, who adds, "No offers from those teams have intrigued the Wings. They want value-now players for a 1C with a very favorable contract."

Larkin has a cap hit of $8.7 million for the next five seasons, while most of the top centers in the NHL are making well over $10 million per year. 21-year-old Leo Carlsson of the Ducks, who had as many points (67) as Larkin last season, just signed an offer sheet from the Flyers that will pay him $18 million per year.

"When Leo’s offer sheet hit, one of the first calls I got was from another manager who said, 'How much more valuable do you think Dylan Larkin just got?'" NHL insider Elliotte Friedman said this week on his 32 Thoughts podcast. "5 years remaining at 8.7. And what he said to me was, 'As hard as Steve Yzerman was drawing the line before, he’s going to draw it even harder now.'"

Friedman added that Yzerman "wants current players for Larkin" and that "if he wanted futures, this deal would be done already."

Larkin might be in Minnesota by now if the Wild were willing to part with star winger Matt Boldy. He might be in Florida by now if the Panthers were willing to part with rising center Anton Lundell (and more). Might he be in Vegas by now had Yzerman made a move for rising winger Pavel Dorofeyev before Dorofeyev was sent to the Rangers? Perhaps, but that ship has sailed.

Yzerman acknowledged Larkin's trade request and his "short list" of preferred teams last month, before adding, "Dylan has five years remaining on his contract."

"My job as the manager of the Detroit Red Wings is always to do what is in the best interest of the Detroit Red Wings, and I will act accordingly to that," Yzerman said. "I cannot make any guarantees, or did not make any guarantees, that his request could or would be met, and there is certainly a lot of uncertainty around that."

Unless Larkin can stomach returning to a team and a locker room (and a fan base) on which he's turned his back, his best option is to expand his list of destinations to help Yzerman orchestrate a trade.

"Part of me still doesn’t believe that Larkin will start next year in Detroit. I’m not convinced that Yzerman wants to start the season with this distraction," Friedman said. "But I also believe that he thinks that no trade is better than a bad trade. And I had a few people say to me, 'Don’t underestimate it, he’ll do it.' If Yzerman believes the right thing to do is start the year with Larkin based on what he’s getting offered, then he’ll do it."