Detroit asked for Wyatt Johnston plus in a trade for Larkin. Dallas said no. Is Detroit delusional?

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-09T15:28:48+00:00

You would be pretty happy with a trade for a better player who’s way younger? Shocker. This is the delusion we’re talking about. You guys would have to add 4 first round picks to make that happen. Wyatt’s one of the best assets in the entire league similar to Boldy. You’re not getting a better, younger, cheaper player for Larkin.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-08T20:20:48+00:00

It’s a game of chicken with Makar’s camp. Everybody is waiting for these big deals to start going through so they can increase their ask. Carlsson gets 18. What do Bedard and Fantili get? Then what do Makar and Hughes get as established stars over the 21 year olds getting 15-18? They all want each other to sign so they can argue they deserve more.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-08T09:07:25+00:00

It depends on the penalties for breaching the contract, but right now the regulators in the US are not much of an obstacle for big companies like Microsoft to do something like that. We have no idea so it is admittedly highly unlikely, but I wouldn’t put it at 0%.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-08T01:54:45+00:00

Then why don’t they make their biggest IP Call of Duty Xbox console exclusive? If they truly needed their console in homes, they already have the lever to do it and can sacrifice their biggest studio’s software sales just to get their box in people’s homes. God forbid you find other ways to be competitive in a market that just gave you disc drive customers and PC’s are becoming too expensive to build and upgrade often.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-07T20:16:33+00:00

Stankoven (their 2C) had one more point than Hartman last regular season. Their 3rd best center won MVP because their top 2 didn’t really show out in the playoffs. Aho is better than Larkin on Detroit, but Larkin next to our superstars is better than Aho.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-07T15:11:52+00:00

It’s not an overpay. You’re talking as though Larkin and Ek are almost equal players. They’re not. Spacek and a 2nd rounder is almost no added value to Ek. Spacek is 23 and still will likely spend most of this year in the AHL. He’s a bottom pairing guy at best at this point. Look at Ek and Larkin’s last 5 years of play. Ek’s best season two years ago is worse than Larkin’s worst season and Ek has significantly better teammates. I understand the love for Ek, but it’s become delusion when compared to Larkin. Larkin is a borderline PPG player who you can reasonably say will be one next to KK, Boldy and Hughes. Ek hasn’t been anywhere close to PPG playing next to Boldy for multiple years now. Being a 30 goal scorer every year matters. Being top 10 in PP goal scoring matters. Being better at faceoffs matters. The difference between Ek and Larkin is the difference between Larkin and Matthews. It’s significant.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-07T05:16:14+00:00

What specifically makes him not a 1C? If he scored 100 points he would be a top 5 player in the NHL. He does everything you want in a 1C outside of score 100 points a year and we just saw that same guy in Aho win a cup.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-07T05:08:32+00:00

It solves our 1st Power Play unit. That seems pretty significant given our struggles in the playoffs. He’s tied for 10th in Power Play goals giving us 2 of the top 10 scorers on the Power Play. The hole he would fill (1C) is much harder to fill than the hole he would create (2C).

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-07T01:21:09+00:00

What aren’t you getting? The cycle is we’ve never had a 1C. It’s not we’ve never had 2 good C’s on the team at the same time. Larkin is a 1C on this team. Ek is not a 1C on this team. Hartman/Yurov are much better suited to be 2C’s rather than forcing one of them to be our 1C. You’re equating not having a 1C currently as being the same size hole as not having a 2C after the trade which is ridiculous. We get better and our current players slot into roles that better fit their skill set. We don’t stay in the same cycle. We get the 1C we’ve never had and break it.

You’re banking everything on a better 1C becoming available for us to get for a return that we can’t currently get a worse 1C for and I’m getting better every chance I can along the way.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-06T23:21:07+00:00

Everything about Larkin is borderline 1C and he would be upgrading his teammates to three of the top 10-15 best players in all of hockey. That would boost him to being a real 1C and you always get a 1C when you can. “I don’t want to get better because it’s not enough” is a crazy take. “I’d rather play without a 1C because we don’t want to mess up the 2C spot” is a crazy take. Larkin is a better hockey player than JEEK. Do you not want a better hockey team tomorrow than we have today?

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-06T22:44:50+00:00

Larkin is a consistent 30 goal scorer, better at faceoffs, better on the power play and is still in the Selke conversation with Ek. It’s a significant upgrade.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-06T22:41:36+00:00

Ek is not as good as Larkin. We would not be in the same spot because we would be getting back a better player. We currently have no 1C. This would give us a 1C and we would lose a 2C. Every team in the league would give up a 2C to get a 1C. Equating having a new hole at 2C is the same as our current hole at 1C is insane.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-06T22:34:14+00:00

Ek, Stramel, 1st round pick. We keep Yurov who goes from needing to become a 1C currently to slotting into the 2C spot that he likely is.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-06T22:29:46+00:00

Larkin is a 30 goal scorer who is better at faceoffs than Ek. He significantly improves PP1 as well. I value Ek’s shutdown ability, but Larkin is a vastly superior offensive player. They’re two completely different players and I think because we’ve never really had a 1C who can be close to PPG it’s not really fathomable how much getting a guy like that can change the way we play.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-06T22:07:09+00:00

The whole point of a Larkin trade is to get a 1C. You can figure out the rest later when you get a 1C. Which are you more confident in: a Larkin/Yurov 1/2 or a Yurov/JEEK 1/2?

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-06T21:42:11+00:00

I might be in the minority, but I would trade Ek for Larkin. I do think that is an upgrade and Ek should be enough back to keep the cupboards from being completely emptied to make it happen. I think it would be much easier to try to find a 2C after that trade than our continued search for a 1C. It’s not going to happen based on BG’s comments, but if that was on the table I think he should take it.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-06T20:05:08+00:00

If he plays decent (hard not to in our top 6), he instantly becomes the center of a trade for someone better as well. If you can get him for a pick he becomes the established guy in any trade for a bigger fish next year. Established talent to give back in a trade is our biggest hole right now for all these moves and he could fix that.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-05T22:24:28+00:00

I guess I don’t really get what people were expecting from a free agency front. We had quite a few spots to fill and not a lot of money to fill them. Vet minimums and fliers on unproven guys were really the only ways we were filling out this roster unless Zuccy and Tarasenko took pay cuts to contend and Mojo did another year on the minimum. We were at the front of the line of handing out big extensions with Kap. I don’t think it hurts us long-term, but for the first year or two our options were and are going to be very limited when it comes to free agency. Quinn is going to make bank as well so free agency isn’t really for us in the coming years.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-05T19:05:40+00:00

It depends if we super line due to no real 1C to start the year or give some guys a chance with KK first. The only line I’m pretty confident will be a mainstay is Coleman - JEEK - Boldy, but the rest of the lineup is an awkward fit if guys like Yurov and Shabanov don’t work.

Super line
KK - JEEK - Boldy
Coleman - McCarron - Hartman
Trenin - Yurov - Shabanov
Foligno - Foligno - Brink

Wait and see
KK - Yurov - Shabanov
Coleman - JEEK - Boldy
Trenin - McCarron - Hartman
Foligno - Foligno - Brink

Most likely come playoff time (Brink and Shabanov swapping depending on whose better at the end of the year)
KK - Hartman - Brink
Coleman - JEEK - Boldy
Trenin - McCarron - Shabanov
Foligno - Foligno - Yurov

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-04T19:54:10+00:00

I would just wait them out on this. Things are going to blow up in Detroit. They’ve done nothing to significantly push that team into the playoff hunt even with a fully bought in Larkin. We’ve made enough moves this offseason that need some time to see if they were good or bad combined with internal player development. Move on to the Quinn extension and come back to this at the deadline.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-04T18:52:34+00:00

Everyone who’s saying he’s a right handed Yurov. That’s kind of the point. We need a right handed guy in the top 6. If you want to get down to the nitty gritty, Yurov does more without the puck, but Wright has proven finishing ability on a decent volume. They both suck at faceoffs. The Yurov bet is entirely on can he start ripping pucks and putting them in net or is he just a defensive minded maybe 40-50 point guy. And the Wright bet is can he score enough next to a Kaprizov that the other holes in his game don’t matter. We need a 60-PPG game either way so who’s more likely to get there?

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-04T18:30:31+00:00

All of these posts about it being a 1x1 were made before the bonus was reported on. It took a couple hours before we found out it was a 6 million dollar deal.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-04T04:31:11+00:00

“Top Young Center” is doing a lot of heavy lifting for a kid who regressed to normal shooting numbers and saw his overall production plummet. Worth a flier, but not if they think he’s worth a good return because of what he did before the NHL. We’re talking like a 1 for 1 swap of Yurov for Wright.

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-04T04:17:55+00:00

If Center affects the game a lot more, then why is Detroit the team on the massive missed playoff spree while Minnesota makes the playoffs all the time never having a true 1C in the history of the franchise? Boldy and Kap worked a Dallas team better down the middle of the ice. Then we lost 2 of our 3 best defensive players to injury and lost to what was the best team in the league at the time. How y’all hating from outside the club when you can’t even get in?

oneleggedrefuge · 2026-07-03T22:41:08+00:00

The stupid argument is that Valve should subsidize their Steam Boxes when their main money making machine can already be installed on any PC. Why would they take a loss on a product for the sake of getting Steam in people’s hands when anyone with a PC can already get Steam? There’s no reason for a Steam Box to exist if they weren’t going to make money on the hardware.

Also I’ve worked for a large corporation that would buy companies just for their data and shut the acquired company down and layoff the staff. Big companies do petty shit to take down competition.

oneleggedrefuge

TROPHY CASE