Dylan Larkin Turns Boos to Cheers With a Goal in His Red Wings Return Against Ottawa

The loudest sound of Dylan Larkin’s season debut was not the boos. It was the cheers that replaced them. The Detroit Red Wings’ former captain, playing his first game since his trade request became public in June, scored at 13:14 of the first period and added an assist as Detroit beat the Ottawa Senators 5-3 on Tuesday for its first win of the season, Reuters reports. Four days earlier, the same building had booed him during introductions.

What happened in Larkin’s return game?

Detroit won 5-3 after an 0-2 start, and Larkin was in the middle of it. Ottawa’s Tim Stutzle opened the scoring at 2:44, Alex DeBrincat tied it 32 seconds later, and Larkin put Detroit ahead in front of the net off a feed from Viktor Arvidsson, Reuters reports. Early in the second period Arvidsson scored on the power play off the rebound of a Larkin shot.

Ottawa cut it to 4-3 in the third before DeBrincat’s empty-net power-play goal settled it. John Gibson made 22 saves for Detroit and Samuel Ersson 31 for Ottawa, Reuters reports. The scoreline mattered; the reception mattered more, because this crowd had spent Friday night telling Larkin exactly what it thought of him.

Why did the same fans cheer a player they booed on Friday?

Because Friday was about the request and Tuesday was about the hockey. At the home opener, Larkin was introduced in street clothes among the scratches and was booed heavily, FOX 2 Detroit reports, with some fans taping over his name on their jerseys. On Tuesday he was cheered when he touched the puck on his first shift, FOX 2 reports, even though that shift ended with Stutzle scoring at the other end.

Nothing about the underlying situation changed between the two nights. Larkin still wants a trade, a standoff that has already produced the ‘sell the team’ chants and Simon Edvinsson’s own reported wish to leave. What changed is that he played, and scored, and a fan base that has missed the NHL playoffs for ten straight seasons, the longest active drought in the league, got one night of the player it used to build around.

What has the trade request already cost Larkin?

The captaincy, for a start. Detroit stripped him of the role in September, theScore reports, and removed his photo from the captains’ display inside the arena. Larkin reported to camp anyway, told reporters in September that he understood why the decision was made, and declined to discuss his reasons, theScore reports.

His teammates have publicly backed him, with DeBrincat saying the room is excited to have him back, and defenseman Moritz Seider saying before the game that the players were prepared for any reaction and that playing well is how you quiet it, theScore reports. Detroit is not the only team living this story: Winnipeg’s franchise goaltender is in a holdout his own club says has no trade timeline, and in both cases the player and the team are stuck performing together while everyone waits.

Who actually controls what happens next?

Larkin does, more than Detroit does. His eight-year contract, signed in 2023, carries a no-trade clause, so the Red Wings cannot simply take the best offer: any deal needs his approval and a destination he accepts. Early reports listed Minnesota, Florida and Vegas among his initial preferred options before the list grew, FOX 2 Detroit reports, and the Detroit Free Press reports no team has yet offered the value Detroit wants.

The money is not the obstacle either. At an 8.7 million dollar annual value, Larkin fits under most contenders’ NHL salary cap planning, which is precisely why a 34-goal center with cost certainty draws interest and why Detroit, holding more than 16 million dollars of its own cap room, has no financial reason to rush.

What happens in Detroit’s next home games?

More of the same referendum, one shift at a time. Detroit’s forward group is thinned by injuries to Marco Kasper, Mason Appleton and J.T. Compher, theScore reports, so Larkin’s minutes on the top line and the first power-play unit are not a courtesy. They are a necessity for a team that scored twice in two games without him.

Tuesday showed the fastest route out of the noise: score early, win, and let the building argue with itself. It did not withdraw the trade request, restore the captaincy or answer whether Larkin finishes the season in Detroit. It just made the next introduction harder to boo.