The captain of the Detroit Red Wings, Dylan Larkin, is about to embark on his 11th season with the team. The Waterford, Michigan native joined the Detroit Tigers broadcast during a recent game. Larkin told Jason Bennetti of FanDuel Sports Detroit that the Red Wings are one of the youngest teams in the NHL and that the young Red Wings will impress during the upcoming NHL season.
“We’re going to have some guys that are gonna come up and impress and hopefully solidify themselves for a bright future in their careers and for our team,” Larkin said. Larkin told a story about a former teammate, Darren Helm, who asked Larkin how old he thought Helm was during Larkin’s rookie season. Larkin’s answer? 34 years old? Helm responded by saying, “Dylan, I’m 29.” Larkin recently turned 29 years old and is entering the 11th season of his NHL career. Larkin was the captain of the Red Wings throughout the team’s rebuild.
The average age of the Detroit Red Wings is 28.8 years old. Steve Yzerman, general manager of the Red Wings, added several players who will make the team harder to play against. This will not necessarily give the team what it desperately needs: the ability to score goals. The Red Wings finished the 2024-25 season with 235 goals scored, which was the 22nd most in the league. Alex DeBrincat led the team in scoring with 39 goals in 82 games played.
During the offseason, the Red Wings also solidified their goaltending with the acquisition of John Gibson, who is 29 years old, from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for Petr Mrazek, a second-round draft pick, and a fourth-round draft pick. Mrazek was acquired by the Red Wings in March from the Chicago Blackhawks. Gibson will be the number one goalie for the foreseeable future as the team waits for Sebastian Cossa. In 29 games played for the Ducks during the 2024-25 season, Gibson had a record of 11-11-2 with a 2.77 goals-against average and a save percentage of .911.
The Red Wings signed forward Mason Appleton to a two-year contract with an average annual value of $2.9 million. The Michigan State University product, who is 29 years old, has played 400 games in his NHL career with the Winnipeg Jets and Seattle Kraken. In 71 games played for the Jets during the 2024-25 season, Appleton scored 10 goals and added 12 assists. The issue with the Red Wings is that they have plenty of players like Appleton already on the roster.
The Red Wings will have an entire season to adjust to Todd McLellan’s systems. The young Red Wings will also take time to adjust to the NHL level. McLellan replaced Derek Lalonde on December 26th after the team seemed to some to have given up on Lalonde. The highlight of the Lalonde era was when the Red Wings missed the playoffs on the final day of the 2023-24 NHL season, when the team had 91 points. The Washington Capitals made the playoffs after forcing overtime against the Philadelphia Flyers.
ITR 50: Atlantic Division Preview – Inside The Rink
Discover more from Inside The Rink
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
