Dylan Larkin submitted a trade request to the Detroit Red Wings has taken the NHL by storm over the last few days. Insider Elliotte Friedman mentioned the Sharks as an interesting potential destination for the 29-year-old center on his latest 32 Thoughts Podcast.
“San Jose, it’s got to be so tempting to look at [Macklin] Celebrini and say, ‘wow, I’d love to play with that guy for a few years,'” Friedman said on Friday’s episode of his podcast while discussing whether or not Larkin may want to make a move to a team still in the rebuilding stage.
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Friedman then added, “Is [Larkin] really going to want to leave a team that’s been on the precipice of the playoffs for the last couple of years and haven’t made it in, for teams that are a little farther away. San Jose is the one team I wonder if they would look at differently.”
Friedman mentioned the Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Minnesota Wild as more likely options for Larkin.
Larkin finished the 2025-26 season with 34 goals and 67 points in 74 games. He was the Red Wings’ second-best goal scorer trailing just Alex DeBrincat‘s 41 goals and had the third most points on the team while serving as their captain.
While Larkin would certainly be an intriguing addition for the Sharks to improve their team for the short-term future, there are some legitimate concerns regarding how it would effect them in the long-term.
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Macklin Celebrini, Michael Misa, and Will Smith were all drafted as centers, although Smith has spent the majority of his NHL career on the wing to this point. Adding a veteran like Larkin, who would command a top-six role, would either push Misa to the wing or to the third line. If Misa went out to the wing, it could effect his ability to become the Sharks’ second line center of the future. At the same time, playing him on the third line would limit his ice time much more than the Sharks would probably like moving forward.
The other issue would then become Alexander Wennberg. The Sharks recently signed him to a three-year contract extension which included a full no-trade clause in the first two seasons of the deal. As a result, if Misa is playing the third-line center role, the Sharks would be paying Wennberg $6 million per season to be their fourth-line center.
Of course, none of this takes into account that the Sharks would have to give up considerable assets to get Larkin in the first place which would be an entirely different conversation.
While adding Larkin would be an interesting concept for the Sharks, it would also add a considerable salary cap hit to their forward group which would leave them less money to address their biggest need, the blue line.
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Mike Grier would be wise to inquire about Larkin’s services, as any general manager in the NHL should at this stage. With that being said, it’s a difficult move to see making sense for the Sharks in the long run.
