The 3 real reasons Dylan Larkin has demanded a trade.

The Detroit Red Wings fan base was left stunned this week when news broke that Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin had demanded a trade out of Detroit. It's always shocking when a star player requests a trade but this one was even more shocking given that Larkin is a native of Waterford Township, Michigan and grew up dreaming of playing for the Red Wings as a young man.

So why then does Larkin want out? Well the reality is there is no definitive answer but some insiders have offered their insight into why the situation may have reached this point. With that in mind I will be looking at the 3 most realistic reasons Larkin has demanded a trade away from his hometown team.

#1 Dylan Larkin's Bad Relationship With Steve Yzerman.

The Red Wings captain hasn't always seen eye to eye with the man in the general manager's chair and in fact Larkin has even publicly expressed his frustration at times.

"I think, especially March, it was hard and we didn’t do anything," said Larkin in 2025 after the Red Wings held firm at the trade deadline. "And I felt the group, we didn’t gain any momentum from the trade deadline, and guys were kinda down about it."

Red Wings insider Ansar Khan recently cited this outburst from Larkin as well as perhaps some controversy over the captaincy as reasons behind this poor relationship between star and general manager. From Khan:

His frosty relationship with Yzerman probably didn’t help. Yzerman delayed naming Larkin captain after Henrik Zetterberg retired in 2018 and Larkin expressed disappointment that Yzerman didn’t acquire more help at the 2025 trade deadline.

#2 Steve Yzerman Failed To Build A Competitive Roster.

Larkin has been with the Red Wings for 11 seasons now and he has only ever made the playoffs a single time, when he was a rookie in the National Hockey League. Now that would take a toll on any player but for Larkin it has been especially frustrating given the criticisms that his general manager has faced for failing to build a competitive roster.

Yzerman has been heavily criticized for trades that sent away valuable assets for very little return including the much maligned Jake Walman trade and the Justin Faulk trade that sent both Dmitri Buchelnikov and a first round pick to the St. Louis Blues for a veteran blue liner that did not help the Red Wings make the playoffs.

Larkin is set to turn 30 at the end of next month and with his prime years rapidly fading away, he likely does not believe that Yzerman can build a contender before his prime has come to an end.

#3 Larkin Gets A Taste of Winning

It may not be a coincidence that the sweet taste of victory came just a few short months before this trade request from Larkin.

The Red Wings captain got his first real taste of meaningful playoff games when he represented his home country, the United States of America, at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy. Not only did Larkin get a taste of just how good it feels to win when the United States captured the Gold Medal at that event, but he was surrounded by fellow NHL players who may have whispered a word or two in his ear about greener pastures elsewhere.

Larkin does have some genuinely legitimate reasons for wanting out of Detroit, and it is perhaps for that reason that most of the backlash from fans in Detroit seems to be directed towards Steve Yzerman rather than Dylan Larkin.