Red Wings’ Dylan Larkin Undergoes Season-Ending Core Muscle Surgery
The Detroit Red Wings will be without captain Dylan Larkin for the remainder of the 2021-22 season, the club announced Monday.
In the announcement, the team revealed Larkin had undergone surgery to repair a core muscle injury, which he sustained Sunday versus the Florida Panthers.
Larkin’s recovery timeline is expected to span between eight-10 weeks.
In a corresponding move, Detroit recalled forward Chase Pearson from the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League. The 24-year-old made his NHL debut earlier this season.
The injury comes as a devastating blow for Larkin, who transformed into an elite centre for the Red Wings this season. After struggling to make positive strides in each of his previous campaigns, he finally began to put things together to pair with his dynamic skating skills.
In 71 games, Larkin, 25, posted 31 goals and 69 points while averaging 19:40 minutes per night. The Red Wings captain leads the club in scoring and points per game (0.97).
If not for going under the knife, the 6’1” centre would’ve likely registered new career-highs in both goals and points. For now, however, each of those marks will remain at 32 goals and 73 points, which were set in 2018-19.
Detroit signed Larkin to a five-year, $30.5-million contract in 2018, featuring a $6.1 million AAV cap hit per season. The final year of his lucrative deal is slated to begin next season, with the left-hander set to enter unrestricted free agency the next off-season.
Larkin became the 37th captain in franchise history on Jan. 13, 2021, and the first since former Motor City great, Henrik Zetterberg.
This season, the Red Wings own a 29-37-10 record with 68 points through 76 games, placing them sixth in the Atlantic Division. Unfortunately, they’ve already been eliminated from playoff contention.
With just six games remaining, Detroit will begin its Larkin-less era in Tampa Bay against the Lightning on Tuesday, with puck drop scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Ken Lund. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.