Detroit Red Wings interim general manager Shawn Horcoff met with reporters at the NHL general managers’ meetings in Toronto on Tuesday, and nothing he said moved either of the two situations hanging over his roster. Asked about the Dylan Larkin trade standoff and Simon Edvinsson’s unsigned contract, Horcoff said it was “status quo” with both players.
The one detail that would tell everyone how close this is to ending stayed off the table. Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com reported that “Horcoff declined to comment on whether Larkin has altered the list of teams to which he would agree to be traded.”
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Horcoff did describe what a resolution has to look like from Detroit’s side. “Ideally, we get something that works for both sides, right?” he said. “But it has to be something that helps this team.”
The Red Wings would like Larkin to open up his approved list, and so far it has not changed. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reported that Detroit has exhausted its options with the current 10 teams and would like to go deeper in talks with six to eight clubs outside them, while Larkin’s camp believes the list is already long enough. As long as it stays at 10, the market Detroit can actually work is small.
Per LeBrun, the 10 teams are the New Jersey Devils, the Colorado Avalanche, the Vegas Golden Knights, the Dallas Stars, the Minnesota Wild, the Washington Capitals, the Utah Mammoth, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Florida Panthers. Larkin is suspended without pay for now, which means Horcoff and the Red Wings can take their time with a trade.
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The 30-year-old center has played in 10 games this season for the Red Wings. Larkin scored two goals and recorded four assists with a plus-3 rating, according to ESPN.
The other half of the status quo carries a hard date. Edvinsson, 23, is an unsigned restricted free agent working out in Nashville, and Cotsonika reported that the defenseman must sign by Dec. 1 to be eligible to play this season.
Horcoff has said he has no interest in trading Edvinsson, and on Tuesday he did not close the door on listening. “I’d still like to sign Simon, but I think when it’s someone like that and the situation that we’re in, you can’t help but take calls,” Horcoff said. He added that his job is to do what is in the best interest of the Red Wings, and that he will take those calls and hear what other teams have to say.
