Is Mantha a play driver?

[Uncle Scrooge]

The Rangers are a lot better with Chris Kreider on the ice than not on the ice. They consistently have improved goal and shot shares with Kreider on the ice for many years. Is that not a play driver? To me, that's the definition. Your presence on the ice makes your team better in a tangible way.

I don't think we should fall into the trap of associating play-driving with producing, necessarily.

A better example of a complimentary player is Ryan Strome. He's a first liner with Panarin and a third liner without Panarin. He doesn't provide anything but he doesn't bring you down. He follows whatever the drivers are doing.

Mantha is a play driver in the sense that the Red Wings are tangibly a better hockey team when he's taking a shift than when he's not. Play driver is not synonymous with "gamebreaker" or "elite" or whatever other superlative you want to throw out. You can be a decent middle-six player and a play driver.

Isn't a player who has a positive effect on the team just what we call 'impact player'? Could be in numerous different ways without being a strong puck carrier or a leader on the ice who others trust to make stuff happen.

I think play-driver is a much more defined term, driving as in carrying the puck a lot and making strong plays through the neutral zone that break the other teams defense - and then have the skill to do something in the o-zone once you get there, particularly in utilizing your linemates as they're figuratively in the backseat.

 

[SotasicA]

The Wings suck. So just like everyone else on that team, he spends most his games hemmed in his own zone. Not much time for play driving when you're forced to play defense.

 

[Hisch13r]

Yes. He is the driving force in Detroit.

 

[TheMule93]

The Wings suck. So just like everyone else on that team, he spends most his games hemmed in his own zone. Not much time for play driving when you're forced to play defense.

No he doesn't. In fact he was the only forward on Detroit that had >50% possession numbers last season. Technically Larkin was right at 50% though.

Also, this is why relative stats are used... his rel CF% is literally the highest in the league for all players with >500min TOI. He is among the very best play drivers in the entire NHL.

Player Season Totals - Natural Stat Trick (sort by CF% Rel)

 

[snowkiddin]

Complimentary winger? He gives our compliments? Unless you mean complementary...

 

[Castle8130]

Absolutely a play driver.

 

[Martinez]

He’s our best player and when blash puts him on line 2 he carries that line so yeah, I’d say so.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

I don't think anyone is a play driver on a line with Dylan Larkin. He's such an aggressive play driver with his speed that you're pretty much forced to react to what he does.

 

[NotLeddy]

I don't think anyone is a play driver on a line with Dylan Larkin. He's such an aggressive play driver with his speed that you're pretty much forced to react to what he does.

Larkin is a lot slower making zone entries now, just to be more patient and get passes through, and doesn't really use his speed all that much anymore except on two-on-ones and breakaways. Players like Point, MacKinnon, Barzal, all notably use their speed more often in the neutral/offensive zone than Larkin. He's still a fantastic player, but it's not like he is "speed, speed, speed" all the time. Much more Jonathan Toews style of zone entries/offensive zone setup.

The only season that Larkin was aggressive with his speed was his rookie year in 15-16. Even his best season in 18-19 was because he was making high IQ plays, scoring on his shots and had good linemates for the majority of the season. I don't think he was a line driver much in 19-20 (still had his best defensive season ever), but he had absolutely no center support at all in his defense. All other centers on the team were below replacement level at 5v5 (Filppula, Ehn, Nielsen, Glendening).

Mantha was definitely better this season though, and made the team better when he was on the ice than Larkin did. I think they both can be considered line drivers, but I'm pretty sure Larkin only has 18-19 where he was above average quality line driver, whereas Mantha has been a line driver for the past three seasons.