A new trade proposal would send Dylan Larkin to the Maple Leafs for Morgan Rielly and Miles Wood, and it would get the Red Wings out of a standoff.
Detroit suspended its captain after he told the team he was done playing for them, and the idea this morning is to settle it with a three-player swap. It lands on a Monday after the Red Wings were blanked 4-0 in Colorado on Saturday night, their third straight loss.
The proposal has Rielly and Wood going to Detroit, with Larkin heading the other way. Detroit would take on $1.3 million more in salary.
Rielly is 32 and has 12 assists in 18 games this season, with no goals. He's averaging 18:46 a night, down from 21:08 last season. In the Maple Leafs' 4-2 loss to Montreal on Saturday he played just 5:45.
Wood is the other piece, and he hasn't played a game this season. He's listed on injured reserve until at least Nov 30, and Rielly is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury, expected out until at least Nov 10.
Does Rielly for Larkin actually help Detroit?
Only on paper. The Red Wings would get a power-play quarterback, and Rielly has run Toronto's power play for years. But they'd be getting two players who aren't in the lineup right now for a captain with 6 points in 10 games.
Nick Kypreos wrote that Rielly is still a Maple Leaf only because no team showed interest all summer, adding that "with his trade value flat-lined and his cap hit just too high for what he brings, the only hope is that he rehabilitates his status as a top-four defenceman in the early going." That's not the profile of a player you build a Larkin return around.
Detroit also has Simon Edvinsson on the shelf, listed as out indefinitely in a contract dispute. Simon Edvinsson's standoff with the Red Wings is a separate fight, but it shows how much depth the club is playing without.
For Toronto, the appeal is obvious. Larkin would be another top-six center, which could free Auston Matthews, who has 11 goals in 18 games, to play wing, or push John Tavares into a different role.
The catch is that Toronto isn't on Larkin's list, at least not yet. The longer the standoff drags on, the more salary he loses, and that pressure could push him to open the list to more clubs, a path that's also at the heart of the Bruins' Dylan Larkin trade proposal we covered last week.
Detroit's next game is Tuesday at St. Louis, and Larkin's name won't be on the lineup card.
Quick hits
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS: Owen Tippett says the Flyers are "playing a little bit scared" after their 4-3 overtime loss in Calgary. That's a blunt read from inside the room, and it won't go away quietly.
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TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Easton Cowan gave the Maple Leafs their only bright spot in Sunday's 4-0 loss to the Devils, and it started with a stick. Fans looking for something to hold onto found it.
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NEW JERSEY DEVILS: The backlash over Connor Hellebuyck sitting out in Winnipeg keeps growing this morning, and Sunny Mehta's decision is drawing the fire. The Devils are taking the heat.
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FLORIDA PANTHERS: Brady Tkachuk dropped the gloves with Nikita Zadorov off the opening draw Sunday, and the Panthers' night in Boston only got uglier from there.
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PITTSBURGH PENGUINS: Dan Kingerski posted this morning that Kris Letang was brutally honest after the Penguins' 5-2 loss in Anaheim. When a veteran like that speaks up, the room usually listens.
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Should the Red Wings trade Dylan Larkin for Morgan Rielly and Miles Wood?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Boston sends Florida home embarrassed after chaos involving Brady and Matthew Tkachuk
