Dylan Larkin is concerned for his safety considering how the NHL has allowed dangerous plays to go largely unpunished recently.
The Detroit Red Wings captain spoke to the media Tuesday for the first time since an incident against the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 9 forced him to miss four games before he returned Monday night.
"The last week in the league has been pretty eye-opening," Larkin said, according to The Athletic's Max Bultman.
"It's been kind of a trend - this last week has been a highlight for player safety," Larkin continued. "As a player, I'm obviously closely attached because I just went through something, but I've talked to guys on our team, guys from other teams, and it's hard to feel safe out there. It's hard to know how to protect yourself."
Senators forward Mathieu Joseph punched Larkin in the back of the head but wasn't suspended. The only supplemental discipline stemming from the incident was a six-game suspension to David Perron of the Red Wings for retaliating.
Larkin laid motionless on the ice after Joseph punched him and Senators defenseman Artem Zub fell on his legs moments later. The Red Wings center was nearly taken off the ice on a stretcher. He left the game and didn't return.
"This instance, watching it back, I wasn't really doing anything," Larkin said. "I just was trying to make a play on the puck and just standing there, really. … How do you protect yourself? Who's protecting you? There's a lot of (unanswered questions) in our sport right now."
Larkin says he truly believes NHL has the best refs in the world, but “it’s the message being sent down from the top, what is safe and what’s not, and how to discipline it, there’s a lot of questions there. And it’s kind of scary as a player.”
— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) December 19, 2023
One night after the Larkin incident, Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome caught Winnipeg Jets winger Kyle Connor with a knee-on-knee hit that forced the potent scorer out of the lineup for six-to-eight weeks. The officials in that game gave Strome a five-minute major and a game misconduct. However, the NHL Department of Player Safety didn't follow suit with a suspension.
Larkin and Connor are both 27-year-old stars from Michigan. They played together on the United States squad that claimed the gold medal in the 2014 Under-18 World Championship.
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