Horcoff May Be Eyeing Two Trades at Once for Detroit

Shawn Horcoff's first months as Red Wings interim general manager are shaping up as a juggling act. Dylan Larkin's trade saga has dragged on for nearly half a year, and Simon Edvinsson, a restricted free agent defenseman, may not want to stay in Detroit. Either case would be a headache on its own. Together, they leave a team already short on skill with very little room to maneuver.

The clock is the real pressure point. Edvinsson's situation has to be resolved this season, and the Dec. 1 deadline is getting closer. Detroit could lose two of its best young and established talents without getting much back, and that's why the return matters so much. A prospect or pick that helps in 2028 doesn't solve a lineup problem that's already here. Horcoff needs something that also contributes right away.

The double-trade idea

Insider Darren Dreger shed some light on one possible approach. Speaking on Montreal 690 radio, he said he'd heard Detroit has interest in handling the Larkin and Edvinsson situations together. The two deals wouldn't go to the same club. They would simply be completed at roughly the same time, which would let the Red Wings address both files in one push rather than letting one drag the other down.

That's a report from a well-connected insider, not a finished transaction, and nothing has been agreed. Still, it fits the shape of the problem. A rebuild-minded front office has two assets that can't stay where they are forever, and selling both quietly over the next few weeks would be a messy way to do it. Sequencing them together gives Detroit more leverage to ask for a package that actually fills holes.

Why the Larkin piece has been stuck

Larkin's trade list now includes ten teams, and the core issue has been simple: most of those clubs don't have what Detroit is looking for. The Red Wings don't want to give up a proven center for prospects and draft picks, which is a reasonable position for a team trying to stay competitive. Those contenders, meanwhile, aren't eager to create a new hole in their lineup by moving an established, skilled center.

Here's the thing: the teams that could use Larkin are mostly contenders, and contenders hate to gamble. Adding a player with Larkin's profile means trusting that he'll fit a group that has already won hockey games together. Most of the clubs on that list are serious Stanley Cup threats, and they'd be asking their current core to make room. Giving up players who have already carried them into the playoffs in exchange for someone who hasn't gone past April since 2016 is a hard sell, no matter how good the player is.

That tension is why the Larkin file has moved so slowly. It isn't a question of whether teams like him. It's whether any of them will pay the price that Detroit wants without changing the chemistry they already have.

Why Edvinsson could be easier to move

Edvinsson's situation runs the other way. He's 23 and has shown flashes of a top-pairing defenseman, which gives Detroit a player teams would want to acquire. His preference to be traded is a real complication, but it also means the Red Wings can cast a wider net. Edvinsson isn't attached to a list of ten teams. Detroit can go after clubs that have more flexibility, including ones trying to shore up their blue line for a playoff push and possibly willing to part with a young center to do it.

That's a fair way to frame the leverage. The team receiving Edvinsson is getting a younger, more valuable commodity, and the price for that is likely to be close to what Larkin's current contract would cost. When you're offering one of your own young players, it's easier to ask for one in return. The Red Wings can also reasonably push for a return that matters in the short term.

Detroit could really use him, too. Moritz Seider is playing close to half of every game, and a second top-pairing defenseman would take real pressure off a player who has been carrying a heavy load. Losing Edvinsson without a strong return would make that workload harder to manage. So Detroit has a reason not to sell cheaply, and the asking price reflects it.

What to watch next

The next few weeks will show whether Detroit can turn this idea into actual deals. If the Red Wings do pursue two trades at once, watch for how much of the return is immediate and how much is future value. Watch also which clubs are in the mix for both players, since the teams most likely to need a young defenseman may not be the ones that can afford to lose a center.

Until something is official, treat the Dreger report as a useful signal rather than a settled outcome. The Red Wings have a deadline, two valuable players in play and a list of teams that don't all want what Detroit is selling. Horcoff's next move will tell us whether he can solve more than one problem at a time.