Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkGio
Not even close. I know the popular thing around here is to bash Edmonton, but Oilers made out with a valuable piece. 6'3" right handed defensemen logging the hardest minutes in NJ at 23 years old is a solid asset. Here's Adam Larsson:
- Logs 2nd most minutes of his team
- Starts in the offensive zone 30% of the time
- Leads his team in hits
- Leads his team in blocked shots
- 2nd most minutes on the PK
- Plays the toughest competition
- Received only 13 minutes of PP time the entire year!
The guy is a big shut down defensemen who has been trusted to hunker down New Jersey's stingy system. So 20 points isn't bad. You give this guy an open system and some powerplay time and watch him double his point totals. He'll never be a 50 pt defensemen, but he'll be a mean and hard defensemen to play against, and that's what the Oilers' needed.
Make no mistake, the Oilers got better today.
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I get that he is probably a good defensive defender, however, as soon as you start throwing around statistics like hits, blocked shots etc. you are not talking about a top pairing D man so that's the bottom line IMHO. I would also wager that most true top pairing defencemen would not be limited to 30% offensive zone starts because they are too valuable to not be on the ice more than that. Lastly, there is a reason this guy is only getting 13 min of PP time all year and it's most likely because he can't hack it. Do you think the Devils were just unwilling to give him a shot? Not likely.