Dylan Larkin caught in awkward moment after Jack Hughes' unexpected comment gets caught on camera

The comedy is real. The context underneath it is more interesting.

The Detroit Red Wings captain was filmed leaving a restaurant Sunday night with Jack, Quinn and Luke Hughes, and Jack's unfiltered review of the meal did the rest.

Hockey social media treated it as a summer throwaway. Nobody stopped to check who was actually sitting at that table.

Larkin asked the Red Wings for a trade in early June and submitted a short list of approved destinations. Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reported those clubs as the Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights and Minnesota Wild.

Quinn Hughes plays for the Minnesota Wild, who have spent the entire offseason hunting a first-line center and have been linked directly to Larkin.

Jack and Luke Hughes play for the New Jersey Devils, one of three clubs The Fourth Period recently reported as having checked in on him.

So a dinner that read as pure comedy also placed Larkin in a room with players from the franchise he is most heavily linked to and one that just joined the queue.

Tampering rules are written for club employees. They say nothing about where players eat.

That distinction matters more every year, and the Milano Cortina Olympics accelerated it. Larkin, Jack Hughes and Quinn Hughes all won gold together for the United States in February.

Those friendships now sit on top of a trade market Detroit does not control. The Red Wings still have no permanent general manager, with Steve Yzerman moved to a senior advisory role on July 15.

Todd McLellan will open camp with a captain who has five seasons left on his contract and no obvious exit.

The video was funny. The seating chart was not.

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