Dylan Larkin reporting to Red Wings camp, but stripped of captaincy after trade request

Larkin's frustration with the organization, and specifically the Yzerman era, are completely understandable. He has spent more than a decade with the team and has made the playoffs just one time (all the way back in his rookie season) and has watched a seemingly endless rebuild consistently fail to make progress.

At some point players want to win. 

His desire to leave remains a damning indictment of the job Yzerman did running the team. Larkin has not only been the supposed leader of the team, he's also the longest-tenured player and a Michigan native. That's the guy you're supposed to be trying to build around.

But where Larkin loses a lot of the benefit of the doubt is the way he has really handcuffed the organization in moving him. With full no-trade protections in his contract, he dictates where he is going to go, and reportedly only gave the Red Wings three teams to deal with (the Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights). Aside from those teams having little in the way of salary-cap space to take on his contract, none of them have the type of assets in the form of prospects, young players or draft picks that would interest the Red Wings in a potential trade. 

Maybe that was part of the candid discussions he referenced.

Maybe he will expand his list of teams with a new general manager.

Perhaps the new general manager might even convince him to stay. The locker room might eventually welcome him back. The fans may be a different story. 

Whatever the case may end up being, the Red Wings remain in a holding pattern with all of these unresolved issues.