Bruins Have a New No. 1 Center to Think About
· Yahoo Sports
Remember when Cam Neely said the Bruins do not have a true No. 1 center? One may have just become available.
On Thursday afternoon, Elliotte Friedman reported that Dylan Larkin requested a trade from the Detroit Red Wings. Emily Kaplan reported that there have been issues stemming back to “testy contract negotiations in 2023.” The Red Wings captain and Michigan native has spent the last 11 seasons in Detroit, skating in 808 regular-season games and just five playoff games.
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Larkin is 29 years old, turning 30 in July, and is coming off a 67-point season (34-33–67). He has posted 67 or more in every season since the COVID-shortened 2021 season. He has also scored 30 goals in each of the last five seasons, and he has done it six times in his career.
Larkin centered the Red Wings’ first line this season and also played a big role on the power play, where he scored 14 goals, 24 points, and averaged 3:08 of ice time per night. He also averaged 1:29 per night on the penalty kill.
When the Bruins got eliminated in early May, David Pastrnak spoke up about turning 30 and only having one shot at the Stanley Cup. Larkin, who has yet to have a shot at the Cup, fits right into the window alongside Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy (28), and Jeremy Swayman (27), all of whom are signed into the 2030s.
At the end-of-season press conference, Cam Neely pointed out the lack of a No. 1 center, though he mentioned the two candidates developing in-house. Don Sweeney noted that those players are rare and hard to acquire.
“When you do make a call about a player of that nature you’ve just described, the guy on the other side says there’s not even 32 of them in the league,” said Sweeney. “So we feel pretty good this year that by committee, our guys did a good job.”
The 6-foot-1 center has five years left on his current deal; it expires after the 2030-31 season. The contract carries a favorable cap hit of $8.7 million, and Larkin has a no-trade clause through the 2027-28 season. He will have a say in where he goes. However, as Friedman said, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman “will not be bullied into any scenario he dislikes, no matter how much pressure is applied.”
Any team moving a 1C will be looking for a premium return. It sounds like Steve Yzerman is no different. The Bruins own five first-round picks in the next three years, but it’s hard to imagine Detroit settling for just picks. The Bruins have top-six forwards, young defensemen, and a reloaded pool of prospects that could appeal to the Red Wings.
James Hagens and Fraser Minten are part of that prospect pool. A player like Larkin would force the Bruins to consider their futures with the team.
The front office harped on speed and skill at the end of the season, and Larkin checks both of those boxes. The cost to acquire him would be significant, but No. 1 centers rarely become available. The Bruins have searched for years; they tried, but they have not been able to fill the hole Patrice Bergeron left when he retired.
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