How many contending teams would Larkin be the #1 center on?
Tampa Bay - behind Stamkos and Point
Boston- behind Bergeron
Toronto- behind Tavares and Matthews
Pittsburgh- behind Crosby and Malkin
Washington- Behind Backstrom and probably Kuznetsov
Islanders- Behind Barzal
Carolina - Behind Aho
Columbus - Ahead of Dubois
The west is similar. He would probably be top dog, or a 1a/1b on Nashville, San Jose, St Louis, Vegas. So basically a 1b or an excellent 2a.
On the other hand, how much better would he look on a contender instead of having Helm and Abdelkader as his wingers for a large portion of the season?
Hes hitting that tier of player where you really could argue him above or on the same level as a decent number of centers on this list. The only better defensive player on this list is Bergeron. He would definitely be ahead of Barzal this year. You could argue him with guys like Kuznetsov and Backstrom at this point. If Larkin got to play with Ovechkin, have Carlson getting him the puck etc he would be putting up even bigger numbers to go with his defensive game. Right now Larkin has a higher points per game than both of them and he doesnt get close to the talent around him to work with. Aho and him are pretty comparable.
A lot of these guys have better track records and a guy like Kuznetsov has a great playoff last year as well but going based off of just play this season Larkin is at the very least comparable to a decent chunk of these guys this season. Hes not the best on the list but hes not the worst either.
Out west he would likely be the best center on Nashville over Johansen, at worst hes comparable with O'Reilly in St Louis, at worst comparable to Monahan in Calgary, I would take him over Couture in San Jose, better than anyone on Vegas. So once again, he might not have the track record of a few of these guys but hes only 22. Based off his play this year offensively and defensively, the only centers in a playoff spot out west who is clearly better this season is Mackinnon. I think Scheifele is a weird case because he has a lot of talent and hasnt seemed as dominant when I've watched this year as he was in years past. And really with the talent Scheifele plays with he should be out prducing Larkin by a lot more than he is given Larkins a better two way player.
Like I said this is based off of play this season only, no I'm not saying Larkin is a better player for sure than a lot of these guys but hes definitely comparable to most. Theres a reason hes going to be the captain of an original 6 franchise next seasno at the age of 23, some people are sleeping on him because the wings are junk.