A proposed blockbuster trade would send Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a package featuring a $31.25 million forward.
Moving Larkin would represent a dramatic change in direction for Detroit, but the proposed return gives the Red Wings plenty to consider before dismissing the trade idea.
The concept, titled on PuckPedia’s PuckGM roster-building tool, comes from user NoKniesForHabs and lands amid a real trade saga â Larkin requested out of Detroit after last season, but months have gone by and no deal has materialized.
Quinton Byfield and Vojtech Cihar Land in Detroit
GettyQuinton Byfield #55 of the Los Angeles Kings.
The package built for Larkin centers on Quinton Byfield, a 6-foot-5 power forward the Kings took second overall in 2020. Byfield posted 24 goals and 25 assists across 79 games last season, a step below his prior two campaigns but still a 20-minute-a-night role at center. He carries three more years of team control at $6.25 million annually, according to PuckPedia’s contract tracker.
Cihar, 19, adds long-term upside. The Czech winger was named World Junior Championship MVP this past winter and signed a three-year entry-level deal in December carrying a cap hit near $974,000, according to PuckPedia. He’s still some distance away from getting regular NHL minutes.
Larkin, 30, remains a captain and a Michigan native who has spent his entire career in Detroit. He posted 34 goals and 33 assists in 74 games last season and carries a $69.6 million extension signed in March 2023, keeping his cap hit at $8.7 million through 2030-31.
Larkin’s frustration with Detroit’s direction spilled into public view after the Red Wings missed the playoffs again last season, for the 10th year in a row. As recently as 2008, the Original Six franchise won its 11th Stanley Cup championship.
Deneral manager Steve Yzerman confirmed the Larkin discontent without detailing it.
“I’ve addressed Dylan’s comments directly with Dylan, and I will not elaborate,” Yzerman said, as quoted by The Hockey News. “If Dylan wants to share what I had to say with him, he’s more than welcome.”
Salary-Cap Numbers Favor Detroit’s Rebuild
GettyVojtech Cihar poses for a portrait after being drafted by the Los Angeles Kings with the fifty-ninth overall pick during rounds 2-7 of the 2025 Upper Deck NHL Draft at JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE on June 28, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.
Shedding Larkin’s $8.7 million and absorbing roughly $7.2 million combined for Byfield and Cihar leaves the Red Wings projected at $81.98 million against next season’s $104 million ceiling, a number set after the NHL raised its salary cap for 2026-27. That leaves roughly $22 million in projected space, with Byfield sliding into the top center spot on the prospective depth chart.
Los Angeles would get an established first-line center to replace the retired Anze Kopitar, pairing a proven 65-to-70-point producer with Adrian Kempe up front, albeit for the significant cost of the Kings’ top prospect, a promising teenage winger and a 2027 first-round pick.
Larkin’s full no-trade clause means Detroit can’t move him anywhere without his sign-off. His reported list of preferred destinations initially included Florida, Minnesota and Vegas, not Los Angeles.
Yzerman has offered no guarantees either way, framing any move around the organization’s long-term direction. Training camp is approaching with no deal completed, leaving open the possibility Larkin simply reports.
For Detroit, the framework reads as a bet on youth and cost control over immediate production. For Los Angeles, it reads as buying a proven center to fill the void left by Kopitar’s retirement.
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