Red Wings Captain Dylan Larkin Out for Opening Weekend with Upper-Body Injury

The NHL season hasn't even officially dropped the puck on opening weekend, and the Detroit Red Wings are already taking on water. Captain Dylan Larkin is officially out for the opening slate with an upper-body injury, according to a report from Daily Faceoff.

If you were hoping to see the Wings come out flying against the New York Rangers on October 2, you might want to temper those expectations. Losing your top center before the regular season even starts is the hockey equivalent of getting a flat tire in your own driveway.

Larkin is the undisputed engine of this Detroit roster. When he is on the ice, the Wings look like a team that can actually threaten for a playoff spot. When he is in the press box, their center depth chart suddenly looks like a random assortment of guys who just met at a bus stop.

For anyone looking at the betting board, this completely changes the math for Detroit's early matchups. The Rangers were already going to be a heavy lift, but asking this current Wings lineup to outpace New York without their number one guy is a massive ask that the market will absolutely account for.

The immediate question is whether this is just a minor tweak or something that is going to linger into mid-October. Detroit needs Larkin back on the ice immediately if they want to avoid digging a hole in the standings before the Halloween candy even hits the shelves.