I think he is a very average player on a very average development curve that has plenty of opportunity to show something...
And what he has showed is he is very average.
Might as well start this off with a glowing report from our biggest Larsson fan.
As follows is my necessary and required statistically-inclined rebuttal:
Possession (LINK):
There are currently 6 Devils with higher rates of possession than Adam Larsson on the Devils. He's tied with Elias. This means that, despite having THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF DEFENSIVE ZONE STARTS (LINK) on the team, Larsson is consistently moving the puck OUT of the defensive zone, and up the ice, leading to shot attempts at the opponents net.
A huge and very important facet to these numbers, IMO, is that when on the ice with his most common partner so far (Seth Helgeson), Larsson has a putrid 39.1 CF% (LINK). Without Helgeson, Larsson is at 58.9%, which is just simply very good. Along that line, he and Gelinas together have posted an absurd 67.6 CF%. There are likely usage factors into those number without Helgeson amd with Gelinas, who have been heavily buried and heavily sheltered, respectively. But the point is that, even if the minutes are easy, and the sample sizes not very large, things have been going exceptionally well for the Devils with Larsson on the ice. There are other players on the Devils playing much easier minutes that can not say that for themselves.
Offense:
Larsson is 7th on the team in ES pts/60. Just think about that. Relative to even-strength ice time, Larsson puts up points more often than Jagr, Ruutu, Gelinas, Zidlicky, Gomez, Greene, Merrill, and Severson, among others. This is all DESPITE the fact that Larsson has one of the lower on-ice shooting percentages and PDO (LINK) on the Devils. Basically, although he isn't racking up points, he's producing offense much more often than you'd expect considering his usage and his puck-luck. There are other players on the Devils with more sheltered usage, and more puck-luck, that can't say that for themselves.
Basically, he's been pretty damn good so far. There is plenty of room for improvement, and I'm not here trying to tell you he's secretly playing like a #1 defenseman or the best on the Devils. But any reports of him being below average or struggling (which is NOT what Jim said) are simply SO off-base that I wouldn't pay them any mind. We could very well still have something special in Adam Larsson, and I believe he's been showing that more and more since his limited time last season.
Last edited by a moderator: