NHL insider links the Red Wings to 34-year old Dallas Stars veteran in off-season move

Most players available are older and more expensive than you'd prefer. But in all three cases, it's easy to see how they could elevate Detroit's current mix in the top six. And at this stage, they're all probably worth stomaching the risks and/or costs.

All three will be in high demand, though, and if the Red Wings strike out, there are some potential alternatives.

Matt Duchene isn't particularly physical, but he's in the midst of an excellent run with the Dallas Stars, where he was their leading scorer in the regular season. Staying in Dallas would seem to make the most sense for him, but anything can happen - though if he does leave, I think his contract will be higher than the Evolving Hockey projection here after a point-per-game season.

«I do really take this hard,» Larkin stated. «It's difficult to sit up here again and we're not playing tomorrow and there's teams playing hockey tomorrow and you reassess, you evaluate yourself, you talk to the coaches, management, see what you have to work on. I want to help this team get to the playoffs. Not just get to the playoffs but win the Stanley Cup. And we have a lot of work to do all over the board for us to become champions.»

«You look at the schedule, it's a lot of travel, a lot of games, a lot of coming and going, flying in, flying out,» Larkin said. «It's difficult, but you have to come up with wins. And especially in March, it was hard that we didn't do anything.»

«And then I felt the group kind of we didn't gain any momentum from the trade deadline, and guys were kind of down about it, so it'd be nice to add something and bring a little bit of a spark on the ice and maybe a morale boost as well.»