A 10th-straight season of a playoff drought for the Detroit Red Wings was bad enough, but their captain handing in a trade request only made things worse. Naturally, the team has decided to strip Dylan Larkin of his captaincy as a result, bringing an end to his captaincy legacy since 2021.

“The Red Wings will begin the 2026-27 season without a captain being named,” the team said as they released various statements on their X page. “Any further discussions or decisions will be made once new hockey operations leadership is in place.”

While the playoff drought certainly did not help matters, Larkin had also reportedly been frustrated with the management over the years. After the 2024-25 season, Larkin publicly called out general manager Steve Yzerman over the lack of activity to secure a star roster.

Shortly afterwards, Detroit Free Press’ Helene St. James also noted that familiar late-season struggles coupled with his right-leg injury did not help his case.

“It was very frustrating to hear the noise about this time of the month, or the year, and to have it happen when it did, it was extremely frustrating,” Larkin said after the morning skate at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit in March. “I was really down about it.”

While the X post by the team made it clear that he wouldn’t be a captain any longer, Larkin has been a long-term presence who stands 17th in the all-time appearances list with his 808 games.

While he wasn’t exactly a 100-point elite player, the former captain worked hard as the top-line center. The team star did consistently produce around 70 points per season over the last five years. His 67 points last year, though, were his lowest tally in that time.

Back in January 2021, the hometown hero who grew up in Michigan became the 37th captain for the Detroit Red Wings. At the time, there was a lot of optimism around the decision as he’d be the first hometown player in decades to don this role.

Fast forward to now, and he will be the first captain in about 40 years to have not guided his team to a Stanley Cup. Before him, Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Danny Gare all managed to win at least one Championship.

In fact, to find the last such captain who didn’t win the Stanley Cup, you’d have to go back to Danny Gare’s tenure (1982-1986).

Despite his trade request being handed in about three months ago, no trade news seems to have materialized yet. As a result, the former captain now looks ready to return to training camp in the coming weeks, still as a Red Wings player.

Training Camp Approaches With No Team in Sight for Dylan Larkin

When Dylan Larkin handed in his trade request, he’d already thought ahead. There were three teams on his radar: the Vegas Golden Knights, the Florida Panthers, and the Minnesota Wild.

That was three months ago, and now, with September 17 fast approaching, training camp is almost upon us. Larkin’s captaincy news comes in just as he’d confirmed that he would be on ice with his teammates for camp.

“Longtime Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin will report to training camp in Detroit next week despite his summer trade request,” ESPN’s Emily Kaplan noted on September 10. “However the Red Wings announced that they will begin the season without a captain.”

Hockey insider Sean Shapiro’s report in June also shed light on the fact that the 30-year-old and the team’s general manager, Steve Yzerman, had not spoken in about a year and a half.

While Larkin gears up for another year as a player with the team, the last time he started with the team as a rookie in 2015-16, the team last made the playoffs. That year, they’d go on to lose to Tampa Bay over five games, but little did they know that would be their only playoff action for a whole decade.

All in all, Larkin did guide his team to over 200 wins in his tenure as a captain. While the record doesn’t quite match other players who served as captain, the team did have some what-ifs.

Two years ago, during the 2023-24 season, the Red Wings came ever so close to finally getting back to playoff life. Their 41-32-9 record with 91 points finished tied with the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference as they narrowly missed out on the second Wild Card spot.