Where there's smoke, there's fire. The Boston Bruins side of social media was set ablaze Tuesday afternoon when rumors started circulating that the team might acquire Dylan Larkin. That led Detroit Red Wings fans to talk about potential returns that included James Hagens or Fraser Minten, which made me check out of the whole discourse.
Dylan Larkin may be a #NHLBruins as soon as tomorrow. Take with a grain of salt but was just told this by someone I trust.
— Singsy (@Singsy24) November 3, 2026
However, my attention piqued again later in the day when Darren Dreger went on TSN's Overdrive and mentioned the Bruins numerous times in relation to acquiring either Larkin or Simon Edvinsson. He reiterated that Larkin still hadn't expanded his trade list to include the organization. Still, he also didn't rule out the possibility that they'd have the best offer if he eventually does.
Are the Bruins the frontrunner for Dylan Larkin?@DarrenDreger and the guys on Boston aiming to make a deal for Larkin.#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/Fa5OLINzb6
— OverDrive (@OverDrive1050) November 3, 2026
That's what scared me a bit as a fan of the youth movement. If the Bruins are in a bidding war with multiple teams and they have the best offer, it has to include someone fans won't be too comfortable seeing walk away. With the way he is playing, Hagens might have more value than Larkin alone, but it's very possible that either Dean Letourneau or Will Zellers would be heading the other way.
In a vacuum, you could say the Bruins acquired Casey Mittelstadt and Larkin for Charlie Coyle if Zellers heads to Detroit, since the fast-rising prospect was really just a throw-in piece of that deal. Most didn't see his full potential until he broke out shortly after the trade. Nevertheless, now that he's Bruins property, you'd like to see him develop in the system rather than head to another organization before he even signs his first contract.
Red Wings' potential ask for Dylan Larkin
I wouldn't be comfortable giving up more than Pavel Zacha, Mason Lohrei, and a first-round pick for Larkin. Still, given Dreger's certainty that the Bruins are a player without even being on Larkin's trade list, the return has to be greater than that. If not, then there isn't as much of a bidding war as we thought.
Two things can be true in this scenario: the return for Larkin better not mortgage too much of the future, but fans thinking they don't want the center because he has an alleged attitude problem, or that he isn't any better than Zacha, are a bit off base. Larkin as the team's 1C would be the best center they've had alongside David Pastrnak since Patrice Bergeron by a wide margin, and he is the perfect complementary piece for their superstar.
As for the attitude problem, all we've heard about Detroit's former captain before the trade request was that he was a great professional and a teammate everyone loved. We probably shouldn't turn down a potential 1C on a team-friendly contract for the next four seasons because he didn't want to stay in what seems like a dysfunctional organization.
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