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.