'Frontrunner' revealed in Dylan Larkin's trade hopes from Red Wings

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Dylan Larkin still is going to get traded, right?

That would be the assumption after the Detroit Red Wings' captain requested a trade earlier this offseason.

First, the Red Wings have to finish getting their front office in order.

Once that happens, though, the Larkin trade request is unfinished business.

According to Daily Faceoff's Matt Larkin, the Minnesota Wild are the "frontrunner," although the timeline isn't as clear.

"Still, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to see it happening before training camp," Matt Larkin writes. "For one, Detroit, uh, needs a GM in place to make the trade. Secondly: Larkin’s three-team list, which expanded to four with the Stars, consists of four teams who are seriously lacking in cap space at the moment, meaning they’d have to move some important players out to make a deal work. The Wild still seem like the frontrunner."

Dylan Larkin's reported four-team trade list includes the Wild, the Dallas Stars, the Vegas Golden Knights and the Florida Panthers.

Because he has a no-trade clause, he has made it clear to Detroit which teams he'd accept a deal to. That makes negotiating tougher on the Red Wings, of course, because there are less options to choose from.

Larkin could still expand his list, which would help facilitate a deal, but given that the only team he's added since early on was the Stars, it's not clear that more could be coming.

For now, the hockey world waits. A Larkin trade will be big news, but it's anyone's guess when it actually happens.