Last weekend, it was reported that the Red Wings had presented a new offer to center Dylan Larkin as they look to lock up their captain to a long-term extension.
Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reports that the offer was for the maximum of eight years and carried an AAV of $8M. Considering there hasn’t been an announcement of an extension at this point, it’s safe to say that the offer was declined.
The proposal represented a fair-sized jump on the $6.1M Larkin is currently getting on his deal that’s set to expire in June. However, St. James points to the eight-year, $73.2M extension ($9.15M AAV) that Mathew Barzal signed with the Islanders as a logical comparable from Larkin’s camp.
If that’s the case, the two sides are likely trying to bridge somewhere in the range of a $1.15M gap per season. While a deal isn’t done yet, the 26-year-old doesn’t believe there’s any sort of strain in negotiations:
It doesn’t seem like there are any hard feelings, it is just the way it is going. With Steve, I don’t really expect anything else. It’s been very professional and we’ve had a lot of conversations about the team and certain things that come up during a season with guys or whatever it may be. It’s been pretty status quo.
