Montreal isn't on Larkin's list, and Detroit's price is the problem

Montreal isn't on Dylan Larkin's list, and the Canadiens are acting like that's an opening offer. I'd treat it as smoke with real heat under it, because Detroit has two big files open and no full-time GM to close either one.

1. Larkin and the Habs. Larkin asked out in June. His list started with three teams, Florida, Vegas and Minnesota, and grew to 10 before the season, all of them American. He holds a no-movement clause on an $8.7 million cap hit that runs through 2030-31, so the list is the law until he says otherwise.

Eric Engels floated Wednesday that a Montreal deal is still possible anyway. Kris Draper, Detroit's assistant GM, has been at a lot of Canadiens games, which is not how anyone spends a free evening by accident.

Last week Darren Dreger laid out Detroit's ask: two top prospects, a first-round pick and a top-nine forward. He thought Montreal would pay it, but he didn't think Larkin would add the Canadiens to his list.

The read: Rumbling. The price is the story, not the list: if one of the 10 teams were meeting Detroit's number, Larkin would already be gone. A team that will pay, plus a player nobody has asked yet, is how a list grows to 11.

What the numbers say: Larkin is playing 21.7 minutes a night, second on Detroit behind Moritz Seider, per NHL data. He has 6 points in 10 games.

Montreal's power play is at 11.4% through 12 games, 29th in the league by our count, and the Canadiens are 4-0-1 in their last five. A team that's winning and can't score on the man advantage is exactly the team that pays October prices for a center.

2. Edvinsson's clock. Simon Edvinsson is 23, unsigned and coming off his entry-level deal, and he has to sign by Dec. 1 or he can't play this season.

Pierre LeBrun put the suitor list at 10 or more. San Jose has talked to Detroit directly, and the Sharks have young forwards the Wings would like, Macklin Celebrini excluded. Dreger added Nashville, where the GM has told other teams he wants to get younger and add skill.

Shawn Horcoff, the interim GM, has said he isn't entertaining trade talk and wants to sign him. Edvinsson's side has made it plain since early October that a trade looks like the logical way out.

The read: Reported. Horcoff's line has about a five-week shelf life, and every week Edvinsson sits, Detroit's leverage melts a little more, and the Wings know it. San Jose makes the most hockey sense, since the Sharks need a young defenseman and have forwards in bulk to pay for one.

What the numbers say: Detroit's penalty kill is at 65.9%, 30th in the league, per NHL data, while a 23-year-old defenseman with 175 NHL games sits unsigned. That's a small sample of 12 games, but it's also the kind of number that makes an interim GM blink.

3. Florida, for the record. The Panthers were on Larkin's first list of three, so Sunrise will ask, and the answer starts with the cap. Florida just paid real cap room to get Barkov back, and Marcus has the bill.

The list says Florida is allowed. It doesn't say Florida is calling, and a deal there would need a lot of money going back to Detroit.

The read: File under Trade winds, not Hot seat. I'd be surprised.

Housekeeping. Seattle still wants a top-line winger and is still willing to move a young center. Dreger said Shane Wright's name is still out there, and his camp has wanted a move since January. Detroit is shopping a center too. I'm not connecting those dots yet, but I am looking at them carefully.