Drivesaitl
Finding Hyman
No you're not. It comes up relatively often. Two things I think are different though:
1) there is not much pushback, if posters start pushing back more join the discussion. I am pushing back at times because I've seen him get crapped on even after playing good games, often on those occasions more join in the critisizm.
The consistency is not there though, which is strange seeing as it's been a strenght of his in the past. That is not good enough.
2) Many have way higher expectations on a $8.5M fwd and second best player in the team. Especially when we need scoring. It's much easier to get down on someone where the bar is set so high as it is for Drai.
I've said it before and I think many agree with me: Larsson, even playing up and down as he has been, is not the problem of this team (neither is Drai of course). Even if you think he belongs on the 2nd pair it's still a decent contract.
Personally I also see something is off with him. Cannot tell if it's injuries or in his head. OEL had his worst season ever the season after his mother passed away, now I know many deal with these things so it's not an excuse, but something is obviously wrong. His best play imo was 16/17 playoffs, followed by his last two seasons in NJD (14/15-15/16). 16/17 reg was also not bad, but below his normal imo.
Well, on point 2 Draisaitl is earning his contract more than McD is to be frank, The players are almost equivalent value on the season with McD having a slight edge.
Good commons regarding Larsson. With the exception of not being a problem. he has been. Theres been a last line of defense missing on a lot of nights when any forward makes a mistake. A top pairing should be good enough, and has to be, to provide a level of D that is another impediment to opponent scoring. Our topline hasn't been very good at that this year which is something you have to have in todays NHL where strength goes up against strength. Which also may have something to do with Larssons undoing. In this season the skill/speed of the game has ramped up another notch. he looks overwhelmed. Particularly in situations where opponent team gets a first chance and then create effective chaos leading to other chances. I see Larsson panicking out there. Freezing.
Is the quality of the NHL game played this season impacting Larsson ability to defend it?