Dylan Larkin won’t be on the ice when the Detroit Red Wings take to it for the first time on Thursday.
Interim general manager Shawn Horcoff announced Wednesday that the wantaway forward picked up an upper-body injury in training and won’t be skating when camp officially opens.
Larkin, 30, was at the centre of a tumultuous offseason for the team, coming off a 10th straight spring without playoff hockey. The team’s captain, Larkin issued a trade request in early June, offering the team a preferred list of destinations. No trade could be found and the team announced last week that Larkin would be at camp, but had been stripped of the captaincy.
On Tuesday, Red Wings owner Chris Ilitch said Larkin spending the entire season with the team is a possibility. He has five years left on an eight-year, $69.6 million deal signed ahead of the 2023-2024 season. He is contracted through the summer of 2031.
In the weeks after the Larkin bombshell, general manager Steve Yzerman abruptly stepped down with the appointment of Horcoff on an interim basis coming on Tuesday. The former Edmonton Oilers forward remains a candidate for the permanent position.
A native of Waterford, MI, Larkin has 643 points in 808 career games across 11 NHL seasons, all with the Red Wings.
