Camp Is Open. Almost Nothing Else Is Settled.
Training camp opened Thursday with Shawn Horcoff running the front office and Dylan Larkin watching from the sideline. That's the situation in Detroit right now: an interim general manager who has held the title for two days, a captain who can't skate, and a roster that has been in various states of disarray since July.
The list of unresolved business is not short. Larkin is out with an upper-body injury and unsigned, with the eight-year extension deadline bearing down regardless of his availability to participate in camp. Simon Edvinsson is expected to be on the ice as an unsigned restricted free agent, his price tag complicated further by Zeev Buium's recent extension elsewhere in the league. Mason Appleton and Michael Rasmussen, both sidelined for stretches this summer, have moved to day-to-day status — which is progress, but not resolution. Viktor Arvidsson remains a question mark after landing on injured reserve less than three weeks into his Detroit tenure.
The one piece of good news Horcoff can point to is Alex DeBrincat, who said publicly last week that he wants to stay. That matters. DeBrincat scored 23 goals last season and has been one of the few constants in an offseason defined by exits and uncertainty. His commitment doesn't fix the Larkin situation or accelerate the Edvinsson negotiation, but it at least confirms the core isn't actively walking out the door.
What Horcoff has in front of him is a week or so to demonstrate that an interim title doesn't mean interim effort. The problems aren't new — I've been writing about the extension deadline and the depth crisis since early September — but they're all arriving at once now, on the first day of camp, with no permanent GM in sight and the captain in street clothes.