No One Knows Anything About Larkin’s Contract Situation
…outside of Yzerman, Larkin’s agent and maybe Dylan Larkin himself.
The Detroit Red Wings Twitter community has turned into a nauseating scroll over this topic lately. You have people who think he’s worth every bit of 9M a year, those who believe he is no where near that, and a ton of people in between- it’s a spectrum.
Now, that’s all fine and dandy. I’m all for debate and dissenting opinions, but where my issue lies is in these baseless reports coming out signaling they have a finger on the pulse of the situation.
There was one tweet sent out that the Red Wings offered Larkin’s camp 8M over 8 years, and Larkin wants 9M over 8 years. This is all based on something journalist Elliotte Friedman (source-less-ly) reported.
This entire $8-9 million dollar frenzy has been created over something Friedman suggested which then got tweeted and retweeted into oblivion…
Until it turned into articles. Source-less, speculative, articles… laced with words & phrases including “I believe”, “speculations” and “likely”.
“He’s looking for a long-term deal, that eight-year extension, and I believe that number starts with a nine, as in $9 million,” Pagnotta said. “It could be just above that on an AAV. He’s looking for those types of dollars, and I believe that message was relayed prior to Horvat signing his new contract with the New York Islanders.”
Neither side has revealed where negotiations stand. However, it is believed the Red Wings are offering less than Horvat money and Larkin wants more than Horvat money. Speculations puts Detroit at $8.2 million and Larkin at $8.9 million. Splitting the difference would be somewhere near $8.55 million.
~Kevin Allen, Detroit Hockey Now
The Red Wings’ message to Larkin likely is something like: Eight years at $8 million gets you $64 million with us while seven years (the maximum term for signing another team’s free agent) at $9 million gets you $63 million with someone else.
The second snippet above even admits neither side has revealed where negotiations stand. Larkin himself has come out and said the reports about his contract discussions have been blown out of proportion.
Via HockeyFeed.com:
When asked about all the speculation surrounding his negotiations, Larkin sort of called out fans and media for throwing out inaccurate takes.
“It just seems people are fishing and speculating,” Larkin said. “I don’t really want my business out there. I understand we’re in the spotlight and fans want to know. They deserve to know. But I think it’s not really the most truthful, you know?”
Oh Dyl, I know. And that’s why I’m writing this. My guess? A deal of 8 years for 8 mil goes off without a hitch the week of the trade deadline. Trust Stevie. Trust the Yzerplan.
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