Player Discussion Adam Larsson (Hall talk will result in a thread ban)

[Fourier]

In his last year in Jersey he had a 56.3% GF% while facing stiff competition and a 69.2% defensive zone start bias, those are certainly very impressive numbers given usage and team strength and his first year in Edmonton he had an impressive 58.2% GF% with an easier zone start bias. In his past 5 seasons he's had 2 great seasons, 2 slightly above average seasons, and 1 truly terrible season.

People dismiss his last year in Jersey because of Greene. But in fact Larsson was the better of the two in that pair in the eyes of many Jersey fans.

 

[GMofOilers]

Klefbom and him are a horrible pairing, pretty much due to Klefbom.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Klefbom and him are a horrible pairing, pretty much due to Klefbom.

Klefbom is closer to being a Norris trophy winner than the quality of Larsson the last couple years.

 

[GMofOilers]

Klefbom is closer to being a Norris trophy winner than the quality of Larsson the last couple years.

hahahhahaha wow, thats all im going to say about that.

Klefbom has been a train wreck for 2 seasons, outside 25 games at the start of this season on the defence side of the puck, meanwhile he was the reason out PP was ranked 30th.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

hahahhahaha wow, thats all im going to say about that.

Klefbom has been a train wreck for 2 seasons, outside 25 games at the start of this season on the defence side of the puck, meanwhile he was the reason out PP was ranked 30th.

Oilers could get scored on and Klefbom could be on the bench and you would blame him.

 

[GMofOilers]

Oilers could get scored on and Klefbom could be on the bench and you would blame him.

That dam Norris trophy contender.

 

[Llamamoto]

That dam Norris trophy contender.

Are you serious? Klefbom's been the Oilers best defensemen the past 2 seasons. The Oilers win-loss record with and without him is insane.

I don't have the stat myself, but if anyone else has it please post it.

 

[GMofOilers]

Are you serious? Klefbom's been the Oilers best defensemen the past 2 seasons. The Oilers win-loss record with and without him is insane.

I don't have the stat myself, but if anyone else has it please post it.

No no he hasnt been. Sorry.

 

[Llamamoto]

No no he hasnt been. Sorry.

He hasn't been what? The best defensemen on the Oilers? When healthy he definitely is.

Defensively he's been light years ahead of anyone else.

 

[GMofOilers]

He hasn't been what? The best defensemen on the Oilers? When healthy he definitely is.

Defensively he's been light years ahead of anyone else.

Only to Klefbom fans.

Hes been a trainwreck on the first pairing for 2 years, outside of 20 games.

 

[Llamamoto]

Only to Klefbom fans.

Hes been a trainwreck on the first pairing for 2 years, outside of 20 games.

I'm a Klefbom fan because he's good. He's not a trainwreck.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

I'm a Klefbom fan because he's good. He's not a trainwreck.

I wouldn't waste your time engaging in a discussion with that poster about Klefbom.

He hates him for some reason.

I've seen him blame klefbom on plays where he's not even on the ice.

 

[CycloneSweep]

Only to Klefbom fans.

Hes been a trainwreck on the first pairing for 2 years, outside of 20 games.

Last year he had a rough year cause he was struggling with a shoulder injury that needed surgery.

This year he was playing phenomenal until his injury and then came back and was fine.

 

[Spawn]

Larsson at his best is a very good defenseman. Easily a #2. He is also very hard to play against. For example he is much more physical than Nurse. I would even call him nasty. I love watching him live working long the boards. In the 2016 playoffs we saw him at his best. He was not only very good defensively and extremely physical, but he actually spent more time jumping up into the play.

One knock on Larsson that I think is undeserved is that he is a black hole offensively. Statistically this is not true. His ES point totals are actually quite good. Since his break out year in 2014-2015 he sits tied for 56th in ES points with 89 in 370 games. Over that same period for example Fowler has 92 points in 355 games and Rasmus Ristolainen has 94 points in 390 games. With the Oilers he has put up 51 ES points in 224 games and only 17 of those came with McDavid on the ice. Given that McDavid is typically in on well over 40% of the Oilers goals that means that he is generating his points without the benefit of McDavids coat tails. Over the same period Sekera has 47 ES points in 221 games. Of the top 4 ES scorers on the backend Klefbom, Nurse, Larsson and Sekera he is the only one with a positive plus minus over his time here.

He is not a flashy player but he is effective. He moves the puck well, is a solid passer and typically he does smart things in the offensive zone. He has actually got a good shot which he does not use as much as he probably could.

2017-2018 I believe can be attributed to a combination of nagging injuries (mostly back) and the loss of his father. I am not sure what happened this year. At times he looked like his old self but at other times he looked like a rookie who was unsure of what to do. Historically he has been a guy whose team came out even or ahead far more than not. This year it seemed that if something could go wrong it would. Very strange.

I expect he will bounce back. But even if he ends up more like a #3 he is still a bargain.

If you took out that one sentence you could have said exactly the same one year ago about Larsson, including expecting a bounce back.

Then he followed it up with a truly horrendous year. 2017-18 I'd say he was mediocre at worst. 2018-19 he was a train wreck. Very far away from being a #3 d-man.

 

[Fourier]

If you took out that one sentence you could have said exactly the same one year ago about Larsson, including expecting a bounce back.

Then he followed it up with a truly horrendous year. 2017-18 I'd say he was mediocre at worst. 2018-19 he was a train wreck. Very far away from being a #3 d-man.

Frankly I cannot explain this season. I've never seen Larsson play like he did for much of the last half of the year, unless maybe you go back to his early days in NJ. If he was 32 maybe you could attribute it to him aging but the guy is younger than many players still on their ELC's. It's also not that he does not care and is riding out a fat contract. You could see in his interviews that it was eating at him.

 

[Zaddy]

Don't know if it's been discussed elsewhere but thought this tidbit was interesting:

Defenceman Adam Larsson, who struggled last year with his game, says he dropped 10 pounds over the summer which is what his partner Darnell Nurse said too, down to 215 from 225. Same summer trainer?
“Maybe the same diet plan,” joked Larsson. “I lost almost 10 pounds. Got some fat off my belly. I did a lot more running this summer, not as much lifting (weights).”

Tippett knows Larsson struggled last year but had a chat with the defender before camp.
“I watched him in the World Championship with (Oliver) Ekman-Larsson and he was free and easy. He had a smile on his face. I told Adam this summer I wanted the World Championship Larsson, not the Edmonton Oilers Larsson,” said Tippett. “Right now, he seems like he’s having fun, he’s trying to dangle guys with the puck.”

Oilers Notes: Leon Draisaitl salary is bargain next to Marner’s

Interesting comment by Tippett, something many posters here have talked about in the past.

 

[TheNumber4]

Don't know if it's been discussed elsewhere but thought this tidbit was interesting:


Oilers Notes: Leon Draisaitl salary is bargain next to Marner’s

Interesting comment by Tippett, something many posters here have talked about in the past.

Very interesting. Thanks for posting that. I always thought similar with Lars... he needs to loosen up and let his offensive game shine more. I think he can do alot more on the ice offensively than he tries to do.

Here's hoping Nurse and Lars weight loss leads to more effective and quick jumping up on the play. But I wonder if their ability to shut down cycles will suffer.

 

[harpoon]

Interesting comment by Tippett, something many posters here have talked about in the past

Not ‘many’. The only person I recall saying exactly what Tippett states (Euro Larsson looks like a different player than NHL Larsson) in your link was @Drivesaitl. He took a lot of heat for saying so as well. Interesting.

 

[guymez]

Not ‘many’. The only person I recall saying exactly what Tippett states (Euro Larsson looks like a different player than NHL Larsson) in your link was @Drivesaitl. He took a lot of heat for saying so as well. Interesting.

In the interview I heard Tippet was talking about how Larsson was playing loose. Smiling and enjoying himself.
He then mentioned that he went on to tell Larsson that he needs to bring that version of himself to his game this season.
So it was really about Larsson not being so uptight.

 

[harpoon]

In the interview I heard Tippet was talking about how Larsson was playing loose. Smiling and enjoying himself.
He then mentioned that he went on to tell Larsson that he needs to bring that version of himself to his game this season.
So it was really about Larsson not being so uptight.

Which is kind of word for word what Drivesaitl was saying earlier in this thread.

Am I the only one a bit disappointed that this play is not occurring with the Oilers and as fans that we are not seeing that benefit? Also with his comments one would wonder how much happier he was playing for Sweden than here

That’s just one of several similar comments that were (purposely) misinterpreted and jumped all over by certain posters on the board. Sounds like Larsson might indeed be ‘less uptight’, or happier, in Sweden. I agree with you. Just pointing out that Tippet’s comments seem to echo comments like the one above made by a poster here who took pages of flak for what were pretty tame suggestions that Larsson seems to feel a lot more comfortable in his home country. It was unwarranted and unreasonable at the time. Now it seems that those comments have been at least partially vindicated by similar comments made by the new team coach.

I’m not going to post on this again. I’ve said what I wanted to say. You can go back and read the first ten pages of this thread and judge for yourself if you are interested. There are even posters acknowledging that Larsson was ‘giving his all’ in a Sweden, and then making excuses as to why he wasn’t/isn’t/hasn’t been able to do that in Edmonton. Plus a lot of posters claiming that some magical untapped offensive potential is being stifled by NHL coaches who have unfairly and unreasonably pigeonholed Larsson, and aren’t giving him ‘chances’ to shine ... like every time the puck falls onto his stick isn’t a ‘chance’ he can choose to take or not. Then some folks brought up Taylor Hall and claimed posters not appreciating Larsson’s stellar work for the Oilers were just bitter. Strawman references were even made to Leon Draisaitl. It was typically petty.

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

Uh oh, our body language expert is making a mountain out of a molehill based on ones happiness.

Literally over analyzing one f***ing thing here guys.

 

[guymez]

Which is kind of word for word what Drivesaitl was saying earlier in this thread.


That’s just one of several similar comments that were (purposely) misinterpreted and jumped all over by certain posters on the board. Sounds like Larsson might indeed be ‘less uptight’, or happier, in Sweden. I agree with you. Just pointing out that Tippet’s comments seem to echo comments like the one above made by a poster here who took pages of flak for what were pretty tame suggestions that Larsson seems to feel a lot more comfortable in his home country. It was unwarranted and unreasonable at the time. Now it seems that those comments have been at least partially vindicated by similar comments made by the new team coach.

I’m not going to post on this again. I’ve said what I wanted to say. You can go back and read the first ten pages of this thread and judge for yourself if you are interested. There are even posters acknowledging that Larsson was ‘giving his all’ in a Sweden, and then making excuses as to why he wasn’t/isn’t/hasn’t been able to do that in Edmonton. Plus a lot of posters claiming that some magical untapped offensive potential is being stifled by NHL coaches who have unfairly and unreasonably pigeonholed Larsson, and aren’t giving him ‘chances’ to shine ... like every time the puck falls onto his stick isn’t a ‘chance’ he can choose to take or not. Then some folks brought up Taylor Hall and claimed posters not appreciating Larsson’s stellar work for the Oilers were just bitter. Strawman references were even made to Leon Draisaitl. It was typically petty.

Thats an interesting perspective.
I just never read the Sweden/Edmonton angle into this at all.

What I mean is that I dont see this as being just geographical issue...that IMO is too simplistic.
I see this being about his game last season and how personal issues and other things affected his play on this team.
Perhaps being back in Europe allowed him to reconnect with family...that can be a huge boost especially after a family loss as significant as what he experienced. I think the time over there with family and friends was much needed for Larssons mental health.

I also think that Lucic was one of a few elements that really created a toxic atmosphere with the team which made it extremely difficult for many players (not named Conner and Leon) to find their game. There were so many players on the team whose games just fell apart and Larsson was one of them.

If the city was an issue for Larsson then I think that it would have shown up before last season. IMO last season was an outlier for Larsson...I am not all that concerned about him moving forward.

 

[Mr Positive]

Imo Larsson was having more fun at the tourney because the team was doing well. He was playing with an elite player too, and imo Larsson truly fits in a situation like that, like being a Methot for Karlsson, during their best years in Ottawa.

And I do think Lucic was toxic, but not in a malicious way. I think he was probably too dominant a personality in the room (comments about Lucic being a strong leader bear this out), and I don't think that works when your play on the ice is lacking. It will mean that the strongest voice in the room doesn't have credibility, and also likely has a permanent negative element to his personality, even subconsciously so.

So I imagine it wouldn't just be Larsson that would be more down playing for Edm last year than they would in an outside tourney on a great team.

 

[tempest2i]

Imo Larsson was having more fun at the tourney because the team was doing well. He was playing with an elite player too, and imo Larsson truly fits in a situation like that, like being a Methot for Karlsson, during their best years in Ottawa.

And I do think Lucic was toxic, but not in a malicious way. I think he was probably too dominant a personality in the room (comments about Lucic being a strong leader bear this out), and I don't think that works when your play on the ice is lacking. It will mean that the strongest voice in the room doesn't have credibility, and also likely has a permanent negative element to his personality, even subconsciously so.

So I imagine it wouldn't just be Larsson that would be more down playing for Edm last year than they would in an outside tourney on a great team.

Winning cures everything.

 

[cpsman]

Larsson went through a lot last year. I really hope he can turn his game around again, and think he can. It's a great sign if he's looking like he's in better shape and having fun. Hopefully he's in a better place and can enjoy playing with the team.