Detroit Red Wings' Dylan Larkin 'embarrassed' by incident, critical of NHL discipline bar

Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin described himself as "embarrassed" over the visual of being unconscious on the ice, and criticized the NHL's stance on discipline in his first public comments since a scary incident 10 days earlier.

In a 13-minute interview at Little Caesars Arena, Larkin discussed what he remembered from the Dec. 9 game against the Ottawa Senators. There was 6:10 left in the first period when Larkin fell unconscious. He was battling in front of the Ottawa Senators' net when Senators forward Mathieu Joseph punched Larkin in the head, which pushed him into Ottawa forward Parker Kelly, who responded by cross-checking Larkin.

"It was tough," Larkin said. "Watching back, replaying it in your head, it was pretty scary. Pretty tough evening. Pretty embarrassed by it. There’s a lot of emotions there that you kind of replay and you live with, and you have to see that highlight, you could call it, that will be attached to your name for a while. It will always be there and people will always be able to watch it. That’s pretty tough."

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What he remembers

Larkin was motionless on the ice, prompting a halt to the game and Wings trainer Piet van Zant to rush to Larkin's side. A stretcher was brought out from the Zamboni entrance. Larkin eventually was able get to his feet and be helped off by teammates Robby Fabbri and Shayne Gostisbehere.

"I don’t remember the play," Larkins said. "I watched it. I remember Piet coming out, them asking about my neck. I’ve seen a lot of people talk about my past history and I don’t think that has anything to do with that play. My neck is fine. There was some concern there about my neck but it was mostly my head and my jaw."

Larkin suffered a neck injury April 20, 2021, when Dallas Stars forward Jamie Benn pushed his stick into Larkin's spine after a faceoff. Larkin spent time in the hospital, could barely walk when he was released and needed a chauffeur for several weeks.

The December 2023 incident looked much scarier, but ultimately Larkin only missed four games.

The reaction

Larkin's parents, Kevin and Denise, were at the game, as were numerous friends.

"My wife was at home, watching," Larkin said. "I had a lot of people text, past teammates and friends and it’s hard to talk about.

"I felt pretty embarrassed about it. It’s just not something you want to be a part of and it was tough. I was not happy with how it went and how the aftereffects went. It’s not really a hockey play. It’s unfortunate that’s how my last week has been."

Joseph has said he reached out to Larkin, but Larkin deflected when asked whether he heard from anyone from the Senators.

"I don’t have a comment on that," he said. "There were a lot of text messages and calls. I didn’t want to look at a lot of them, to be honest with you."

Larkin and Joseph have history: In 2021, when Joseph was playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning, Larkin punched Joseph in the head, and ended up with a one-game suspension.

"(Joseph) plays on the line of being in your face and I’m sure that how he feels he has to play," Larkin said. "I don’t have a problem with Mathieu Joseph."

The aftermath

David Perron, one of the Wings' top-six forwards, crosschecked Ottawa defenseman Artem Zub after Larkin fell to the ice, appearing to think Zub was responsible. It was a reckless play, and officials immediately called a five-minute major, enabling them to review that incident. Officials assessed Perron a game misconduct, and two days later, the NHL's department of player safety handed him a six-game suspension.

Christian Fischer fought Joseph in the third period. After the game, Wings coach Derek Lalonde said, "I thought considering the circumstances, I thought both refs handled it extremely well, communicated well, and we moved on from it."

Joseph and Kelly emerged from the incident each with a two-minute minor for roughing.

"It took a couple days to kind of start to watch things and look at things," Larkin said. "Newsy made his comments after the game, I didn’t totally agree with some of them. DP’s actions, Fisch sticking up for me — we do have a tight locker room in there. I'm sure DP will tell you, he probably wishes he had handled things differently."

Critcism of league discipline standards

Larkin said he hadn't talked to "anybody in the league" about what happened, but given his own close call with a scary situation, player safety has been at the forefront of his thoughts.

"The last week in the league has been pretty eye-opening," Larkin said. "It’s been kind of a trend, I guess. This last week has been a highlight for player safety and as a player, I’m obviously closely attached because I just went through something. 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."

Larkin exempted officials from criticism, saying "I truly believe that we have the best refs in the world. Our refs are good. I just think it’s the message being sent down from the top on what is safe and what is not and how to discipline it — there’s a lot of questions there and it’s kind of scary as a player.

"It’s been on my mind a lot. You always see what’s going on around the league. Maybe it’s because I’m thinking about it more — you see (Winnipeg Jets forward) Kyle Connor take a knee. (Columbus Blue Jacket's Erik) Gudbranson polices it himself. There’s a lot going on."

Larkin noted he was part of a scrum in the game in Boston in October, and fought Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson in October.

"I go back to Boston this year where it got physical late in the game and we got in a scrum, and I probably shouldn’t have gone in that scrum. I got in a fight this year, I probably shouldn’t have done that.

"In this instance, watching it back, I wasn’t really doing anything, I was just trying to make a play on the puck, just standing there, really. How do you protect yourself? Who is protecting you? There’s a lot of (unanswered questions) in our sport right now."

Why he was embarrassed

Larkin twice described himself as embarrassed by what happened, though he was the victim and according to Lalonde lost consciousness.

"I was always taught to not lay on the ice, and there’s not much you can do about it in that situation," Larkin said. "It’s hard to watch. It is. It’s hard to text people about how you are feeling. It was a weird feeling. I’ve been pretty down and I’m sure that’s normal. I don’t know, that’s one of many emotions I’ve had over the last week."

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her @helenestjames.

Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from  Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings' Dylan Larkin: NHL discipline 'kind of scary' now