New York Rangers fans can sympathize with the situation the Detroit Red Wings faithful are going through at the moment.
The stunning news that captain Dylan Larkin has requested a trade is something that Rangers fans have already had to deal with.
Earlier this season, the Rangers went through a similar situation with Artemi Panarin. You might be thinking, “Panarin was an impending free agent, so the Rangers had to trade him.”
Yes, that’s true. But the circumstances are eerily similar. Panarin had a full no-trade clause. He controlled the process. And he dictated where he wanted to go. He ultimately tied Chris Drury’s hands, regardless of what Drury wanted to appear.
Drury was never in a position of strength. He took the best deal he could get based on what Panarin pushed the Rangers towards.
That’s the same situation that the Red Wings face right now. GM Steve Yzerman may have no other choice but to go ahead and send Larkin wherever he chooses. And the only thing he can hope for is that the other team won’t take him to the cleaners.
Fat chance of that happening.
The LA Kings took Drury to the cleaners and back. Yes, the organization got a couple of decent pieces out of the trade. But it was nowhere near what fans had hoped the team could get for Panarin.
That’s the frustration that Red Wings fans will soon encounter. They will soon run into the uncertainty that could emerge from not knowing which team could emerge as the frontrunner to land their captain.
Most importantly, Rangers fans know what it’s like to have that uncertainty hang over the team’s decisions like a black rain cloud.
Red Wings won’t have to deal with Larkin sitting out regular-season games for “roster management” purposes, at least.
While the Rangers could emerge as a destination for Larkin, the bottom line is that the unfortunate parallels between the Larkin and Panarin situations won’t make life easy for Red Wings fans.
If there’s any consolation that Rangers fans can offer is that the sooner the organization can put the drama behind it, the better it is in the long run.
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