Elliotte Friedman is reporting that Dylan Larkin is requesting a trade, and this news is something that should have New York Rangers President and General Manager Chris Drury on high alert. The Blueshirts are actively retooling and not retooling as part of their Letter 2.0 mandate, and Larkin's age, position, skill level, and contract fit the profile of player the Blueshirts typically have shown interest in.
Why the Rangers will be active in pursuit of Dylan Larkin
The Rangers have a history of getting involved in situations like this, and Larkin would be just the latest name to be added to the list. The last major one of note that comes to mind is Jacob Trouba with the Winnipeg Jets, although he was older at the time.
If you are looking at star players with term that had a high salary, Rick Nash back in 2012 would also qualify. You could also technically lump in Martin St. Louis' acquisition in 2014, but he was toward the end of his career. All of that said, the biggest advantage the Rangers would have in this situation is cap space, as there may not be as many teams wanting to take on Larkin at his full salary.
Larkin will turn 30 on July 30th, and has four years left on his contract at $8.7 million per season. The Rangers have tons of cap space, and with very limited options on good players to spend it on, you can be certain Drury will be chatting up Steve Yzerman to get a sense of what it will take to land him. There's a lot of familiarity already with Larkin, as Mike Sullivan just coached him at the Olympics along with J.T. Miller and Vincent Trocheck.
Trocheck, a player the Rangers are expected to move on from this summer, is actually someone I could see being included in the deal since the Wings would likely want a center back. He's no Larkin, but he only makes $5.625 million, and that cost for a player who can contribute 55-plus points has value.
Larkin's expected output fills a huge need
Larkin finished this past season with 34 goals, 33 assists, and 67 points in 74 games. Lifetime he's compiled 276 goals, 367 assists, and 643 points in 808 games. his career best season saw him tally 79 points in 80 games, but offense isn't the only thing he provides. Larkin is a more than capable two-way center who is great at the faceoff circle.
He's got a career win rate of 52.8 percent, and that is something of interest to the Rangers. According to Hockey-Viz, Larkin was on the ice for -0.05 expected goals against per 60 minutes which placed him two percent better than your league average player. Offensively he was on for +0.14 goals for per 60, and that is six percent better than your league average player. He was also worth +4.2 sG this year, and that has him firmly entrenched in No. 1 center territory.
That would create an interesting quandary for the Rangers, as the addition of Larkin would give them three centers, along with Mika Zibanejad and J.T. Miller, to build a formidably top nine. At this point in his career, Miller could benefit from lower leverage minutes, and he'd be an elite third-line center. Zibanejad and Larkin could be interchangable, and it would just depend on which wings you played with them for the purposes of line balance.
Where things go from here
There should be no shortage of teams interested in Larkin. He is represented by Pat Brisson, someone who has quite a fair bit of ties to the Rangers, and Larkin also has a full no-trade clause which will eventually turn into a modified no-trade clause down the line. This puts Larkin in the driver's seat to limit his market, and I would imagine he will try to work with Steve Yzerman, and Yzerman will do his best to honor the wishes of a player who has spent 11 years with the organization.
It is too early to speculate on potential cost of acquisition, as Larkin's list of teams he will accept a trade to will certainly impact that. That said, the Rangers certainly have a number of interesting pieces that they'd be willing to part with.
While doubling down on another older player is risky, the Rangers are in a spot where they are essentially trying to make the best of their current situation. A day of reckoning will come at some point, but as long as Sullivan is the coach, Igor Shesterkin is the starting goaltender, and Adam Fox is the No. 1 defender, there's no reason to not try and build around that to compete for a title.
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