Thursday’s news that Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin has requested a trade is an earthquake to begin the Red Wings’ offseason.Start with the shock that the homegrown, hometown captain could be on the way out after 11 seasons with the team. Over the last decade, Larkin has been one of the few constants in the organization — through coaching, management and roster changes — and is the only player remaining from Detroit’s last playoff appearance in 2016.Through the darkest days of the years that followed that last playoff berth, Larkin was a pillar of the Red Wings’ hopes for the future: first as the young engine at the center of the rebuild, then as the veteran trying to get the team over the hump.His success with Team USA at the Olympics, where he played a key role for the gold medal-winning Americans, showed what he could do in the highest-stakes hockey, and it seemed like only a matter of time before he got his chance in the Stanley Cup playoffs with Detroit.Now it looks like that moment may not come. No trade has happened as of yet, so we’ll have to see what this saga has in store. But typically, a request like this leads to action.Certainly, the Red Wings’ losing has appeared to wear on Larkin as the playoff drought has dragged on, and he and general manager Steve Yzerman seemed to clash at the end of the 2024-25 season in their year-end news conferences. Larkin spoke about the Red Wings’ lack of action at the 2025 trade deadline, lamenting the lack of on-ice spark or morale boost at a crucial time of year, while Yzerman responded by saying, “I’m counting on our best players, our leaders, to give us a bit of a morale boost. That’s what they’re paid for, and that’s the expectation from them.”In the year since, though, Yzerman traded for starting goaltender John Gibson at last summer’s draft, then made an aggressive move at the trade deadline to acquire veteran defenseman Justin Faulk. The Red Wings showed promise, spending much of the season in a playoff spot. But with Larkin (and multiple other key players) injured down the stretch, Detroit nonetheless missed the playoffs for a 10th straight year.