Proposal: Larkin for Draisaitl/RNH

[koyvoo]

In what world does Larkin have more value than Draisaitl? No chance.

In a world where being able to carry an NHL line on your own is valued.

So, our world.

 

[Hen Kolland]

So, instead of simply answering the question, you decide to act as though you're in my head and tell me what my thoughts are?

I never had a narrative...go back to my very fist post in this thread and you'll see I was simply asking why people thought Larkin was better and even mentioned, perhaps I'd not seen him play enough to understand how that opinion was being formed. I never said Larkin wasn't good...just questioned why people thought he was better than Drai.

Secondly, this isn't Draisaitls first time posting excellent stats. He took it to the next level in 2016 and is now, again, taking it to a level beyond that. The guy's on pace for 100 points and 40+ goals. You can use McDavid as his crutch all you want, but that's just speculation on your part. How many players have played with McDavid and not had their status inflated? See, it isn't that simple...and you certainly can't say, with any factual bases, that he wouldn't still be a high end player without skating next to McDavid. Having watched him be a dominate force in the 2016 playoff series against the Ducks (as I'm a Ducks fan) and various games throughout the past few years, I'm going by my eye test on this one. He's an elite offensive player and one that I'd love to have on my team. If you want to say 'intangibles' make Larkin the better player, then that's fine...that's the whole reason why I asked the question to begin with. (I wanted to understand the love for him over Drai) In the end, it comes down to preference. For me, at least thus far in their young careers, I don't think the intangibles argument makes up for the gap between Draisaitls offensive numbers versus Larkins.

Nobody is saying he isn’t a great player. But he has spent a majority of time playing with McDavid, who has outperformed him. You can say that there’s no way to substantiate McDavid being a big influence on the production of Draisaitl, but there actually is. Nothing I’m going to commit more time to researching, but let’s just say playing with McDavid is a major increase over playing with someone like Nyquist. There’s a give and a take, he surely helps McDavid as well. But you point to 100+ pace, I point to 70% of his time with best player in the world, the ability to log extra offensive minutes because he doesn’t have to kill penalties or be a defensive minded player, producing at an extreme level on the power play relatively speaking to Larkin, and he’s shooting at a level that is like 8-10% over his career average. There’s two sides to every story, nobody is saying his value is fake, it’s just grounded in a completely different organizational need. He’s a fantastic option to have, surely if my team needed an elite offensive player (which they do), he’d be at the top of the list, but having a top flight 1C pivot who can do it all is always going to trump it as far as needs go for me.

 

[ChaoticOrange]

The reason that Larkin would be so coveted here is that he has proven he can drive a line on his own.

Draisaitl/RNH would stab a man for linemates the quality of Nyquist and Mantha, don’t fool yourself.

That’s where everyone fails with Drai/Nuge. They see ‘oh they play with McDavid sometimes so their numbers are boosted!’ without realizing the drag put on their numbers by the guys they have to play with away from McDavid.

Sure, Drai spends 55% of his time with connor, Nuge 35% or whatever. That just means for 35% and 55% of the time they’re shackled to the absolute worst winger group I have seen in my 30 years of watching this game.

 

[McFlash97]

sorry prefer Larkin to either

Leon is bigger , is a center , and has over 60 points. Sure of course some people prefer Larkin.

 

[koyvoo]

Leon is bigger , is a center , and has over 60 points. Sure of course some people prefer Larkin.

Well, a large majority of those 60 pts have not come as a C though.

 

[BHD]

‘I don’t want my team to give up good assets to get them’ coming from a fan doesn’t mean they have no value.

Every fanbase has fans who think that way.

Anyways, I'm going to save everyone the trouble by closing this.