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Expectations will only grow for Wings' Larkin |
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When he comes back for his sophomore NHL season, Dylan Larkin will no longer be a teenager, and he will no longer be a rookie.
He will be burdened with the weight on expectations on his shoulder, and due to the evident decline in the games of Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, Larkin will also be viewed as the player capable of carrying the Detroit Red Wings forward into the future.
“He’s going to be an important on our team for a lot of years and for a lot of different reasons,” Detroit general manager Ken Holland said.
With Larkin, it’s more than his skill level that has the Wings excited about his upside.
“One of the most important things, he’s got skill and talent, but he’s a very determined athlete, which are ingredients as I’ve been around here that a lot of our other good players have had throughout the years,” Holland said. “That’s what makes them push themselves to be better all the time.
“He brings skills, but he’s very competitive, and in the league you need competitive people. He’s ultra-competitive. He’s physical. When someone hits him he goes right back at them. He was physical in the Tampa series.
“Really for a 19-year-old player to have that kind of an impact on a team that qualified for the playoffs makes for a very impressive rookie year and certainly we’re looking forward to things to come.”
At the same time, Holland cautioned that Larkin, who will turn 20 on July 30, is still just a kid and might not be ready to be a front-line NHL star just yet.
“I really didn’t know how good Datsyuk and Zetterberg were going to be until the (NHL) work stoppage in 2005,” Holland explained. “They went home. Zetterberg led the Swedish league in scoring. Datsyuk led the Russian league in scoring. That was (Steve) Yzerman’s last year (as a player in Detroit).
“They were 25 or 27. Dylan Larkin is 19. I really don’t know if he’s going to level off or keep going and keep going. This isn’t an exact science. I really don’t know where he’s going with his career.”
Larkin’s first NHL experience was basically a tale of two seasons. He burst from the gate, scoring in his NHL debut and sitting with 18-19-37 numbers through 51 games on Feb. 6.
Then things began to tail off. Larkin closed with just 5-3-8 numbers over his final 29 games and a solitary goal in five playoff games.
“It's been good,” Larkin said of his first NHL season. “It's been pretty intense. It was learning a lot all the time.
“It's been a pretty crazy experience but I've learned a lot about myself and the guys in this room.”
Larkin spent much of the season skating alongside Zetterberg on the same forward line, absorbing everything he could like a sponge.
“I just think it's his patience with the puck,” Larkin said of what he learned the most from his captain. “He makes players around him better. I learned how he defends. He's an elite defender, a 200-foot player.
“He's not the fastest guy but he for sure out thinks everyone on the ice and just watching him, you learn his tendencies and what he likes to do in the defensive zone. It's pretty impressive that even though he's not the fastest guy or the strongest, he definitely out thinks everyone on the ice.”
Going forward, Larkin figures to become the centerpiece of his own forward line.
“I think we see him as a center,” Holland said. “That’s what he’s been. A center has way more responsibility than a winger, so in order to kind of take some of that responsibility away from him and let him use some of his assets, his speed and his ability to transport the puck, we had Zetterberg, Datsyuk and (Riley) Sheahan down the middle.
“I’m not sure if (Detroit coach) Jeff Blashill is going to move him to the middle to start training camp. I know Blash sees him as a centerman.”
More Hockey
Some Red Wings aren’t quite done with the ice for the season.
Larkin will play for the United States at the world championship for the second year in a row, while forward Teemu Pulkkinen will suit up for Finland.
There are reports out of Russia that Datsyuk will play for his homeland in the tournament, but that’s yet to be confirmed by the Wings.
Svechnikov Recalled
Now that the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles were eliminated from the QMJHL playoffs, forward Evgeni Svechnikov, Detroit’s top pick in the 2015 NHL entry draft, has been assigned to AHL Grand Rapids, though it’s not known if he’ll play during the Calder Cup playoffs.
“He’s going to report Sunday,” Holland said. “It’s obviously up to them. They’re trying to win. I would say my guess is, because it’s a best-of-five (series), he won’t play this series, but if they advance then I think there’s a chance he’ll get put in the lineup.
“We really leave it up to the coach (Todd Nelson) down there. He’s got to coach the team and have the freedom to work the roster as he sees fit.
“We think it’s important they go on a playoff run and those guys down there play playoff games, so he’s coaching to win.”
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