Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin shares thoughts on the upcoming season

Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin is coming off his first season after being named team captain last offseason, and is trending in the right direction in his recovery following a neck injury that forced him to miss the final eight games of the 2020-21 campaign thanks to a crosscheck from Dallas Stars captain Jamie Benn. 

His team made several changes during the offseason that saw many familiar faces depart the Motor City, as well as the arrival of several new faces. Take a look at the comments he made in a translated interview with NHL.com Germany's Oliver Jensen: 

“I think with the roster changes that we made this year, there’s already more competition at training camp than in the past four or five years,” Larkin told NHL.com at the 2021 NHL/NHLPA Media Tour. “There are tough battles for every spot on our team. It’s great. That’s exactly how you want it when you start a new season. We’re much younger and have more potential at every position.”

Seider is one of the players who gives Larkin hope for the future. “Mo hasn’t been with us much so far. He was in Grand Rapids [in the AHL]. And last season in Sweden. I’m going to try to help him here as much as I can because he’s going to be an important part of our team. He’s going to play an important role, so the sooner that we get him acquainted with the other guys, the better his game will be,” said Larkin.

The captain is already certain of the individual skills that Seider brings with him: “He’s a great hockey player but he remains humble. He has outstanding skills and a special attitude. We just have to integrate him onto our team. Then he will help us move forward.”

Larkin is also confident that [Thomas] Greiss and [Alex] Nedeljkovic will be a well-functioning goaltending tandem on the team: “I think they can help and complement each other. Greiss is a great professional who is on the ice every day and works hard.”
And how does he judge Nedeljkovic? “I knew ‘Ned’ before because we’d trained together over the summer, and even played minor hockey together,” said Larkin. “I know exactly what he’s capable of and what a special goalie he is. It’s going to be a great goaltending tandem.”

Just as it’s his job to introduce younger players like Seider [to the team], he would like Griess to do the same. “I hope ‘Greisser’ can impart some wisdom to ‘Ned’ so that he’ll become our goalie of the future.”

Larkin can’t wait for the season to begin. “For me and a lot of the other guys on the team, there’s a lot to prove this season,” he said. “Every year you look forward to a season with a lot of optimism and hope. But there’s also the fact that we’ve made some changes to the team, and some players are coming back after recovering from injuries.”