Adam Larsson potential

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

how about we let Adam Larsson be Adam Larsson?

 

[Cowbell232]

I don't think it's the lack of intensity, I just think his sense of urgency needs some fine tuning. He can be a little too nonchalant at times. But that'll get better.

I LOVE that about Adam. That's really something you cannot teach. Perhaps it leads him to hold the puck a touch too long once in a while or step back into the play a hair off. But that's timing that can be taught. His level headed attitude and affable demeanor will treat him well over a long career of ups and downs. E.g., Marty.

Nicklas Lidstrom didn't have an "urgent" style of play. He wasn't very physical or fleet of foot either.

Although an extreme example, yes. This.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

Holding the puck a little longer is certainly not a bad thing for a young guy.

 

[devilsblood]

As per Lidstrom. Born in 1970. 1st NHL season 91-92.

Guy was not playing in the NHL as a teenager.

 

[apice3*]

Patience =/= Lack of urgency

 

[devilsblood]

edit- nm.

 

[devilsblood]

Why are we trying to compare Larsson with players like Karlsson and Niedermayer?

Larsson can't skate as good as both of those players and that's why he'll never be like them. Adam is a smart d-men with a long reach and terrible foot speed. The players mentionned above have ELITE skating and played smart defense but going with body position over physical force.

The kid is 20 years of age, his skating technique can be improved over the next couple of years and to me, that's probably the easiest thing to learn/upgrade as a hockey player. I'm not saying he'll skate like the wind ala Niedermayer but he needs work on his pivots and his 1st step, that's for sure.

If we wanted someone that could skate like Nieds, Letang or Karlsson... we should've went with Ryan Murphy cause that kid can flat out skate but we wouldn't have all the other assets Larsson can give us in terms of overall skills.

One thing I'm hoping for next year is that Larsson plays in all 82 games, injuries put aside of course and for that happen, Lou needs to do something about our ****ing blueline so that Pete doesn't pull the same game of musical chair as soon as a rookie commits a error.

If Lou wants a 20 year old on our roster, well then let's live with the consequences of his growing pains, if not, just send him somewhere we're he'll play heavy minutes and learn on the fly, like Albany. Having a 1st pairing of Larsson/Merrill in Albany wouldn't be the end world and would actually build chemistry between the two players since both of them look to be future of our blueline.

Unless Larsson regresses in a big way over the offseason, I see no chance nor need of him playing in Albany. If that was going to be done, it should have been done last year.

And I think 70 NHL games is better then 80 AHL games.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Nicklas Lidstrom didn't have an "urgent" style of play. He wasn't very physical or fleet of foot either.

It's not about your style being urgent. Nobody wants him to be a frantic, high octane maniac. But in certain situations he's a little too patient which can lead to turnovers or blown assignments. As he gets experience he'll have a better sense of when to pick his spots, I'm not concerned about that.

I think one of the issues is that he's still uncomfortable with his frame. He's a bigger guy than a lot of people give him credit for and he's just stopped growing. This makes his skating awkward and messes up his timing. He knows the right thing to do, it's just a matter of motor coordination.

As he fills out and becomes more comfortable with his body, I think we'll see his skating become much smoother and his timing will improve dramatically.

That being said, I'd rather him be too patient than be not patient enough. Usually these growing pains happen in a player's mid-20's. He's light years ahead of 99% of defencemen his age.

 

[MartyOwns]

e's light years ahead of 99% of defencemen his age.

i would disagree with this

 

[Tretyak 20]

i would disagree with this

So how many other 20 year old Defensemen have 102 career NHL games?

 

[BulletTheBlueSky]

Larsson will be fine eventually. I do wonder though if the same people who defend him so forcefully are the same one's who thought Parise was staying

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

i would disagree with this

Only five other defensemen from the 2011 draft class have played an NHL game.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

Unless Larsson regresses in a big way over the offseason, I see no chance nor need of him playing in Albany. If that was going to be done, it should have been done last year.

And I think 70 NHL games is better then 80 AHL games.

It has nothing to do with Larsson's skillset and everything to do with the surplus of d-men Lou kept around for the 2012-13 campaign, wich put two of our youngsters in ackward postions... when they're easily our 2nd and 3rd best d-men out of that 8 men group.

Both Fayne and Larsson (and Greene but that's a given) should be locks each and every game for our team, when considering we're icing guys like Salvador, Volchenkov, Tallinder and Harrold over them.

 

[devilsblood]

It has nothing to do with Larsson's skillset and everything to do with the surplus of d-men Lou kept around for the 2012-13 campaign, wich put two of our youngsters in ackward postions... when they're easily our 2nd and 3rd best d-men out of that 8 men group.

Both Fayne and Larsson (and Greene but that's a given) should be locks each and every game for our team, when considering we're icing guys like Salvador, Volchenkov, Tallinder and Harrold over them.

I agree we had too many d-men, and I agree it was not the best move by Deboer to play Volch and Sal every game(I know, can't sit the captain, but maybe they should have foreseen this problem) but Larsson did play in 75% of the games.(fayne was less) And this was after playing 33 games in Albany. So I really don't think it would have been in Larsson's best interest to have played all season in Albany.

And I really don't think it will be in his best interest to play in Albany at all next year. With or without a reduction in the D-man glut.

 

[lboogie42*]

when the coaching finally lets him do more offensively, i see him at his best, being a 40-45 pt guy. but thats far into the future when he enters his prime when i see that happening.

 

[Devils86]

Why are we trying to compare Larsson with players like Karlsson and Niedermayer?

Larsson can't skate as good as both of those players and that's why he'll never be like them. Adam is a smart d-men with a long reach and terrible foot speed. The players mentionned above have ELITE skating and played smart defense but going with body position over physical force.

The kid is 20 years of age, his skating technique can be improved over the next couple of years and to me, that's probably the easiest thing to learn/upgrade as a hockey player. I'm not saying he'll skate like the wind ala Niedermayer but he needs work on his pivots and his 1st step, that's for sure.

If we wanted someone that could skate like Nieds, Letang or Karlsson... we should've went with Ryan Murphy cause that kid can flat out skate but we wouldn't have all the other assets Larsson can give us in terms of overall skills.

One thing I'm hoping for next year is that Larsson plays in all 82 games, injuries put aside of course and for that happen, Lou needs to do something about our ****ing blueline so that Pete doesn't pull the same game of musical chair as soon as a rookie commits a error.

If Lou wants a 20 year old on our roster, well then let's live with the consequences of his growing pains, if not, just send him somewhere we're he'll play heavy minutes and learn on the fly, like Albany. Having a 1st pairing of Larsson/Merrill in Albany wouldn't be the end world and would actually build chemistry between the two players since both of them look to be future of our blueline.

Because Larsson was the 4th pick and Karlsson the 15th. ( Tedenby was ranked higher shows how useless those rankings are)In EK second year he was already a star. In his 3rd won the Norris trophy. Is it out of expectation that we should feel our higher pick should be showing more and I disagree that PDB hampered AL development he played 70 games this year. 37 here and he missed a few cause he was banged up. Maybe he just didnt look so good in practice all he time and didnt deserve to be in the line up a few of those games.
[/LIST].

 

[apice3*]

It's not fair because Larsson is only comparable to Karlsson and Niedermayer in that they were 1st round D-men with franchise player potential. Karlsson and Niedermayer play/played similar styles. Larsson is a different player.

That's like saying Ovechkin and Thornton play similar games because they were both 1st overall picks.

 

[Unknown Caller]

It's not fair because Larsson is only comparable to Karlsson and Niedermayer in that they were 1st round D-men with franchise player potential. Karlsson and Niedermayer play/played similar styles. Larsson is a different player.

That's like saying Ovechkin and Thornton play similar games because they were both 1st overall picks.

Exactly. People who were expecting a dynamic offensive defenseman were never understanding Larsson's game in the first place. That was never what he was about.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

As proposed in another thread, I wouldn't be opposed about moving Larsson for a forward. ZBC proposed something around Eberle, wich I find very interesting, but let's say Tampa comes knocking at the door with their 3rd overall pick, that might be another option that would have me thinking.

I would love for us to land Jonathan Drouin and with us having the 3rd and 9th overall pick, we could leave this draft with two bluechip forwards while still having a solid base in terms of defensive prospects.

We can't play all of our prospects at once and it's time to see what Gélinas and Urbom have to offer. We also have Merrill, who's getting alot of high praises around here, and should be ready to crack our team in the next year or so.

I like Larsson a lot but from what I've seen out of him so far, I just don't think he'll reach the level that was expected out of him when we first drafted him. He'll be a top #4 d-men, that's for certain, but I don't think he'll ever reach that level that would make him a legit #1 d-man.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

If we won the lottery and got Jones I would probably go back and call edmonton up and move larsson for one of their top forwards.

Giving him away to move up several spots would not please me.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

If we won the lottery and got Jones I would probably go back and call edmonton up and move larsson for one of their top forwards.

Giving him away to move up several spots would not please me.

With all the depth we have at the blueline, I would love to add someone with the potential of a Patrick Kane in Jonathan Drouin.

I just feel that a forward with that kind of upside would serve us more then someone like Larsson, who's doesn't seem to be switching it to another gear despite playing in the NHL the past couple of years... but like everyone knows, he's just 20 and it's a given that blueliners tend to take more time to develop.

In past and recent years, forwards going in the top #5 have impacted the game a lot more then blueliners IMO.

 

[MartyOwns]

Only five other defensemen from the 2011 draft class have played an NHL game.

just because we were the only team foolish enough to rush his development doesn’t make him light years better than 99% of the defensemen in his age range. give it 3 years and come back to me. and, because in HFland you have to reiterate your ideas so as to not be called irrational, I like larsson. I think he’ll turn out just fine…

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

As proposed in another thread, I wouldn't be opposed about moving Larsson for a forward. ZBC proposed something around Eberle, wich I find very interesting, but let's say Tampa comes knocking at the door with their 3rd overall pick, that might be another option that would have me thinking.

I would love for us to land Jonathan Drouin and with us having the 3rd and 9th overall pick, we could leave this draft with two bluechip forwards while still having a solid base in terms of defensive prospects.

We can't play all of our prospects at once and it's time to see what Gélinas and Urbom have to offer. We also have Merrill, who's getting alot of high praises around here, and should be ready to crack our team in the next year or so.

I like Larsson a lot but from what I've seen out of him so far, I just don't think he'll reach the level that was expected out of him when we first drafted him. He'll be a top #4 d-men, that's for certain, but I don't think he'll ever reach that level that would make him a legit #1 d-man.

I would do larsson for the 3rd pick too, but only if drouin is available then. But Lou will never do it.

 

[AfroThunder396]

Because Larsson was the 4th pick and Karlsson the 15th. ( Tedenby was ranked higher shows how useless those rankings are)In EK second year he was already a star. In his 3rd won the Norris trophy. Is it out of expectation that we should feel our higher pick should be showing more and I disagree that PDB hampered AL development he played 70 games this year. 37 here and he missed a few cause he was banged up. Maybe he just didnt look so good in practice all he time and didnt deserve to be in the line up a few of those games.
[/LIST].

Show more than a Norris winner? Absolutely it is.

By that logic, every goalie in the NHL is a failure because they didn't win the Cup as a starter their sophomore year like Brodeur did.

Do you think Edmonton threw a fit when #9 overall Jeff Skinner outscored #1 Taylor Hall in their rookie year? Because Hall is CLEARLY the better player today.

If you expected Larsson to win the Norris by age 21 that's your own fault. Guys like Chara and Lidstrom weren't even in the NHL as teenagers, every player has a different development path.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Larsson for Eberle.