What's Up With Dylan Larkin?

[TCNorthstars]

You can call it "hindsight wisdom" all you want but Pastrnak is having an MVP caliber season and Larkin has clearly regressed from only a season ago. Yet he is absolved of any criticism...

Were you clamoring for Pasta with the Wings pick in 2014?

 

[Oddbob]

I'm saying we had the option for Pastrnak and we didn't take it but no one mentions this.Why?

Why did Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Lundqvist, etc, etc, etc, not get picked sooner?!? BECAUSE NO ONE HAS A CRYSTAL BALL! Maybe spend 1 ounce of your Larkin hate into critiquing the HOF player that Andreas Athanasiou is?????

 

[ArmChairGM89]

No. Nothing is funny about the state of the team...

it’s a little funny.

 

[JMath]

This thread is about Larkin.

The thread is about Larkin's play recently, not who we should have drafted in 2014 with 5.5 years worth of hindsight bias on our sides.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

Agreed completely. Pastarnak's a legit stud and game changer. What we honestly need right now over anything else is a no bull**** no excuse goal scorer who puts the puck in the net. Larkin is too focused on the old style of play which Babcock made Datsyuk and Z high caliber 2 way players. Larkin isn't nearly as skilled as those 2 guys so he just ends up wasting his effort as a half assed '2 way' guy who can't really score and isn't all that great defensively either. Don't get me wrong, the efforts there from Larkin but he just doesn't have that highend skill.

What? The Wings need a sniper. I'm with you there. However, Larkin is not a half-assed "2 way" guy. He's a less dickish Ryan Kesler. He's an optimal 2C who can shutdown the opposition. See Zetterberg in the mid 2000s when his goal-scoring flair was gone.

The problem isn't that Larkin can't play D and score. The problem is that on this roster, it is basically ONLY Larkin that can do both and he's not built to be a singular talent like McDavid. If the rest of the roster wasn't AHL filler, Larkin's stats wouldn't be near as bad and everyone complaining would shut their yaps. While I agree that Larkin is in over his head and therefore he's not showing out well offensively and defensively... I don't agree that it is a lack of talent on his end. He's just simply not one of the best players in the history of the league.

Larkin is a game-changer. Flip him and Pastrnak and you're talking about how Pastrnak is having trouble scoring.

 

[lilidk]

question is what is Yzerplan ? Everybody are playing below they potential . If it is Blashill , then why is he still here ?. Why can someone interview Steven and not try to soften questions to know the truth

 

[wingfan]

What? The Wings need a sniper. I'm with you there. Larkin is not a half-assed "2 way" guy. He's a less dickish Ryan Kesler. He's an optimal 2C who can shutdown the opposition. See Zetterberg in the mid 2000s when his goal-scoring flair was gone.

The problem isn't that Larkin can't play D and score. The problem is that on this roster, it is basically ONLY Larkin that can do both and he's not built to be a singular talent like McDavid. If the rest of the roster wasn't AHL filler, Larkin's stats wouldn't be near as bad and everyone complaining would shut their yaps. While I agree that Larkin is in over his head and therefore he's not showing out well offensively and defensively... I don't agree that it is a lack of talent on his end. He's just simply not one of the best players in the history of the league.

Larkin is a game-changer. Flip him and Pastrnak and you're talking about how Pastrnak is having trouble scoring.

Bingo. Flip Larkin with any player in the league not named McDavid, Crosby or Malkin and you're probably ending up with the same results.. Look at Mackinnon. He struggled until they got some more firepower around him and it wasn't as much a one man offensive show. That's not to say he's not an elite talent, it's just tough to pull the bus by yourself.

 

[lilidk]

Bingo. Flip Larkin with any player in the league not named McDavid, Crosby or Malkin and you're probably ending up with the same results.. Look at Mackinnon. He struggled until they got some more firepower around him and it wasn't as much a one man offensive show. That's not to say he's not an elite talent, it's just tough to pull the bus by yourself.

McKinnon didn't struggle , he stepped up after departure of Duchane

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Why did Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Lundqvist, etc, etc, etc, not get picked sooner?!? BECAUSE NO ONE HAS A CRYSTAL BALL! Maybe spend 1 ounce of your Larkin hate into critiquing the HOF player that Andreas Athanasiou is?????

AA hasn't exceeded expectations for a 4th round pick?

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Wait, what? OK so the Wings should have drafted Pasta. But nobody else thought so at the time, but we know this today. OK. And Pasta is having an MVP year. Larkin is not. And we should criticize Larkin for it! Because he's not as good as Pasta. Yes, he's better than many players taken before him, but he's not as good as the best 2 players in the draft... and... umm...

You might want to look up the term non sequitur. Your statement here is a standout example.

Larkin has clearly fell off from last year. That's the bottom line.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Getting a player at #15 that would go ~10 spots higher in a re-draft is a win. There are a lot of other picks you could and should criticize before the Larkin pick.

This thread is about Larkin? Or he shouldn't be talked about in his own thread about having issues with his game?

 

[19 for president]

Larks is a guy that thrives in transition. Our defense went from poor to abysmal this year. We have one guy that can make a pass in Hronek.

We get a better passing D and Larkin will be able to engage again in that area. Plus he looks kind of injured too.

 

[Lil Sebastian Cossa]

AA hasn't exceeded expectations for a 4th round pick?

Once you are drafted, your draft slot doesn't ****ing matter.

Nick Lidstrom, Sergei Fedorov, Henrik Zetterberg, and Pavel Datsyuk are some of the greatest to ever wear the Winged Wheel because they were ubertalented and had incredible careers. Not because they were taken later than they should have been.

AA has exceeded expectations for a 4th round pick... granted, he also did that by making the damn NHL. We've gone over this before in other topics, but AA was a 4th round pick because of his own damn attitude, not because of his talent.

Larkin has clearly fell off from last year. That's the bottom line.

And the Wings went from having their goalies play well and having some steady performers on the back end (even if it didn't result in points) in Kronwall and a more healthy DDK to missing basically any good offensive player outside of Larkin and Bertuzzi for most of the year and a D core that has Filip Hronek and a group of five chucklenuts.

This thread is about Larkin? Or he shouldn't be talked about in his own thread about having issues with his game?

You're not interested in talking about Larkin's actual issues (overuse and literally no support from the back end, not like he's not getting the best linemates and weakest opposition, but he's literally expected to toss the team on his back if they're going to have any chance to win a game) and just saying "LARKIN'S NOT SCORING AS MUCH, WHAT THE ****". Give Larkin a literally league average D-core and he's fine. Larkin was playing great at the start of the year when Bert and Mantha were both flying up there with him. Like I'm not complaining that Larkin is getting saddled with checking line guys or whatever... but the Wings roster is filled with AHL level talent. He's not having issues with his game beyond being on an incredibly ****ty roster. Larkin is not Steve Yzerman. He's not one of the five most talented players in the league who can singlehandedly make turn a team. That's not a slam on him.

 

[SuperScript29]

Honestly, I would be more worried if the team was't doing that bad and Larkin was struggling, but since the whole ship is sinking, I'm willing to give the kid a pass.

 

[SirloinUB]

AA hasn't exceeded expectations for a 4th round pick?

Yea but we missed slavin so clearly it was a bad pick.

Larkin has clearly fell off from last year. That's the bottom line.

AA has fallen off much further! Larkin actually has 15 points in his last 16 games. If you’re going to complain about people falling of you are clearly targeting the wrong guy.

 

[Seider Town]

Maybe Larkins always been playing too far up the lineup and it's finally caught up with him? Maybe he's not really a #1 center and he just had a good season to which the Wings Brass expected him to be able to follow up but he can't because he was having a career year. Maybe he's really a second line center being forced to play over his head for a bad team and it's finally starting to show what his true value is?

 

[lilidk]

Larkin is #3 point producer from 2014 draft.

 

[Red Stanley]

Larkin is #3 point producer from 2014 draft.

Only #3??? What a loser!

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

There's literally nothing wrong with Larkin. On a bad team, Claude Giroux put up 58 points in 2017, and the Flyers were no where near as bad as us. Giroux is one of the leading point getters of the last decade, so keep that in mind.

We are on a historically bad team that can't score. Larkin, one of maybe 5 good players on the entire team, is not the problem. The problem is the other 13 some players.

 

[odin1981]

The entire team fell off from last year. That’s the bottom line. You’re still just a troll. That’s the bottom line.

Cause Stone Cold said so!!!!

 

[Henkka]

Maybe Larkins always been playing too far up the lineup and it's finally caught up with him? Maybe he's not really a #1 center and he just had a good season to which the Wings Brass expected him to be able to follow up but he can't because he was having a career year. Maybe he's really a second line center being forced to play over his head for a bad team and it's finally starting to show what his true value is?

Or maybe there wasn't any problems in our 1st line level of play, when DeKeyser and Mantha were healthy, even though Larkin was nursing about pre-season injury. Our top unit is just fine.

Their line-numbers looked nothing but great. But 2-3 lines sucked. Defence in lower pairs sucked, and goalies did suck.

When we get our team depth back again, then "Larkin will look good" and it has nothing to do with Dylan Larkin.

 

[Steve Yzerlland]

Yea but we missed slavin so clearly it was a bad pick.




AA has fallen off much further! Larkin actually has 15 points in his last 16 games. If you’re going to complain about people falling of you are clearly targeting the wrong guy.

This thread is about Larkin....

 

[wingfan]

McKinnon didn't struggle , he stepped up after departure of Duchane

Did he? Because his first four years really were more in line with Larkin's trajectory than his current one since they've added Rantanen.. Not equating Larkin's talent with Mackinnon's as I believe Mackinnon is without question the superior player, but he wasn't exactly setting the world on fire.

 

[TCNorthstars]

This thread is about Larkin....

Yet you brought Pasta into it...

Still didn't answer my question. Where you screaming at the tv to draft Pasta when the Wings were at the podium?

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

Yet you brought Pasta into it...

Still didn't answer my question. Where you screaming at the tv to draft Pasta when the Wings were at the podium?

I was screaming about pasta.