Editor’s note: Larkin missed Saturday’s game against Chicago, and is also expected to miss Sunday’s game.

When Dylan Larkin was taken 15th overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Red Wings fans were over the moon that the team had landed a young stud right out of their own backyard in Michigan. Larkin was touted as a speedy two-way center who could play the game well at both ends, but also had a ton of potential for offensive upside. After having taken Anthony Mantha the year prior, the Wings were hoping they had found their new 1-2 punch of the future. 

After committing to the University of Michigan for a year, Larkin made the team out of training camp in the 2015-16 season and immediately hit the ground running. In his first career game on opening night versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, he scored a goal and an assist and chipped in with six shots. A hell of a debut for a 19-year-old, and it proved to be no fluke either. Larkin enjoyed a stellar rookie campaign that saw him tally 23 goals and 45 points overall. He also managed a very steady 16:33 average time-on-ice which is great for a rookie, but also a great sign for potential fantasy hockey owners. He led the Red Wings in goals, game-winning goals, shots on goal and plus-minus. This impressive debut even earned him some Calder votes in the offseason.

The scenery slowly began to shift over the course of the next two years in Detroit. Larkin's sophomore season would coincide with the departure of Wings legend Pavel Datsyuk, as he opted to travel back to his home in Russia to play in the KHL for St. Petersburg. The following year would be the last for Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg due to a career-ending back injury, With these two goliaths moving on from the Detroit organization, it was very clear a rebuild was underway.

While Larkin experienced a somewhat tumultuous campaign in his second year, he finished off his entry-level contract very nicely. The 2017-18 year was a very nice bounce-back season, He reached a new career high with 232 shots which was way up from his prior season, and he was seeing just under 20 minutes of ice time a game. He earned a career high in points with 63 (16 goals, 47 assists), which led the Wings in scoring. 

The Wings organization had liked what they saw during Larkin's three-year stint and knew they had to lock up their homegrown talent long-term. In mid-August of 2018 only weeks before training camp, the Wings and Larkin came to an agreement on a five-year, $30.5 million contract extension. 

After putting pen to paper, Larkin was poised to prove he was worth every penny of his shiny new contract. The 2018-19 season was Larkin's coming-out party in every sense of the imagination. Larkin shattered his previous goal record by notching 32 goals, nine better than his best mark from his rookie season. This could largely be attributed to the fact he continued to put pucks on net at a great clip. Larkin averaged 3.8 shots on goal per game which to this day is his best showing.

While fantasy owners obviously happy with this offensive outbreak, there was even more to like. Larkin had slowly been developing his skills taking faceoffs. Any fantasy owners who track faceoffs as a category were reaping the benefits of this as Larkin would win 865 draws that year (54.5%). If that wasn't enough, Larkin also hit career highs in penalty minutes (75) and hits (80). If you owned Larkin at this point, you were seeing a multi-cat monster develop in front of your very eyes, and he was truly invaluable in 2018.

While 2019-20 may be written off by many due to the season being shortened by COVID-19, there was still a vast majority of the schedule that was played. Unfortunately for Red Wings fans and Larkin-owners alike, his numbers were slightly trending down across the board. While he was on pace to hit the 60-point plateau, shots and shooting percentage were down. He was still on pace to have his third straight season with 40 or more assists, not to mention he was still racking up faceoff wins at an elite pace, so it wasn't all bad news. Unfortunately, the Red Wings season came to an abrupt end as all professional sports were put on hold due to the coronavirus in March of 2020. 

That brings us to this season. A day before the beginning of the season, the Detroit Red Wings made Larkin their 37th captain in franchise history. This clearly showed that the organization had faith in Larkin and were depending on him to be a leader amongst a team chock-full of young prospects and developing talent. 

Sadly, this year's campaign has been a forgettable one to date. Through 21 games, Larkin has only produced 11 points. In an 82-game pace, this season is on track to be his worst since his sophomore year. The million-dollar question is why? What is contributing to this dip in production? He is still shooting at a clip of over three shots per game which is encouraging. 

During most of his career, the Red Wings have been stuck in this elongated rebuild. The rebuild has been dragged out largely thanks to bad contracts that were given out around the start of Larkin's career. Detroit had become far too enamored with keeping their franchise playoff streak alive rather than focusing on the future. They have been paying the price for those decisions to this very today. Had they torn things down immediately when Datsyuk left town, they may be in much better shape to compete today. 

However, with all this being said, Larkin has always been playing for fairly bad teams and still been able to produce at a solid rate. In his breakout year in 2018, despite his dominance the Wings still ended up 7th in the Atlantic Division. So you can't put it all on the team. Perhaps you could place some of the blame on COVID-19. Detroit played in what would be their final game last year on March 10, 2020. Since they were not anywhere near being in playoff contention, they did not participate in the play-in bubble or Stanley Cup playoffs. Fast-forward to this season and their first game was played on January 14, 2021. That is 310 days in between games and just over 10 full months of inactivity. Sure, there are other players who have experienced the same length of layoff, but I think this certainly could be something to keep in mind. 

Chemistry is certainly always a factor, and going into this season the Wings were expected to center Larkin in between Tyler Bertuzzi and Anthony Mantha. Unfortunately, Mantha has been out for the past 13 games with an upper-body injury. This has created a revolving door both on even-strength and power-play lines. Larkin continues to be dominant on faceoffs and plays responsible defensive hockey, so it's not entirely doom and gloom. Larkin is goalless in his past 12 contests and his shooting percentage has plummeted to a sheepish 5.6%. While this is bad at first glance, shooting percentage is something that always seems to balance out over time. As long as Larkin keeps putting pucks on net, the results should come. Over his career, Larkin has managed a 9.1 shooting percentage. While that's not elite, it should be an indication that "he's due," so to speak. 

While it may be hard to justify hanging on to Larkin in current fantasy leagues that don't include faceoff categories, I wouldn't write him off just yet. While the Red Wings are absolutely miserable offensively right now, patience is a virtue. With the likes of Bertuzzi, Mantha, and other young talents like Filip Zadina and Filip Hronek, improvement is bound to come.