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Larsson blossoming


William D'Aquila

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http://thehockeywriters.com/q-a-with-adam-larsson-of-the-new-jersey-devils/

 

Adam Larsson: It’s something we talked about (before this game); this guy (PhilKessel is probably one of the hardest guys to defend (against) in this league. We talked about him before the game, (about) how they play — I thought we came out and played big today.

 
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I'm really hoping that Larsson can continue playing at the level he has been of late even once Severson comes back and possibly replaces him on the top pairing with Greene.

It'd be great if one of those two guys could play with Merrill and help boost his game since that would give us a pretty solid top 4 that consists of 3 very young defenseman.

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Just read the article. I really wish that website used an editor for these things. So many awful grammar errors. It's hard to read an article that has unnecessary commas EVERYWHERE when it's supposed to be at least a semi-professional piece.

Iirc, this is the site that said Kowalsky was the Devils head coach in a season preview.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Ever since Deboer was canned was when he took off. Coincidence? I think not.

It probably has more to do with being paired with Greene than the coaching change seeing as the team has generally been performing worse since the coaching change.

But by all means, continue on with your after the fact bashing of DeBoer.....there is literally no topic you've not made a 180 on. Ever think of becoming a politician? You'd fit right in.

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It probably has more to do with being paired with Greene than the coaching change seeing as the team has generally been performing worse since the coaching change.

But by all means, continue on with your after the fact bashing of DeBoer.....there is literally no topic you've not made a 180 on. Ever think of becoming a politician? You'd fit right in.

 

It's called being objective.

 

When Deboer made a good coaching decision, I mentioned it.  When Deboer made a bad coaching decision, I mentioned it.

When the team plays bad, I'm gonna mention it.  When the team plays well, I'm gonna mention it.

 

So while it may seem like I'm going 180, my opinions are based on what I see.  Objectivity is a great thing.  Fact, I actually thought Deboer did a good job last year. They were stupid unlucky last year.  It's just this year, the team looked as if they tuned Deboer out.  Hence why I felt it was his time to go.  Hell, I still like Deboer, but his time was up.

 

Also, if you think they've been worse since the change, then you haven't been watching the games.  Defensively, they've been so much better.  This shouldn't even be debatable.  They haven't improved offensively, but they haven't gotten worse either.  The numbers and results don't lie.  The team has in fact improved.  You can see it in their play.

 

Deboer apologists are just looking for reasons to defend him at this point, and are just reaching and grasping at straws.

 

The point of the matter is, Larsson is playing with Greene for a reason.  He's been given the keys to go out and play his game, something Deboer did not let him do.  Lou realized how it's important for the young guys to be given the best chance to succeed, and he's doing it.  Remember the Isles debacle in OT, Deboer would have benched him for that.  Lou and company decided not to, and let the kid learn.  How about the fact Ryder is being held accountable now?  Deboer would never do that. The coaching regime is coaching the way it needs to in order for this team to have the brightest future possible.

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The team has not improved MB. They're still getting outshot constantly, sometimes by insane margins. Over the last 11 games they've gotten .941 goaltending whenever Schneider plays and .863 puck stopping at the other end over those same 11 games. That's been hiding a lot of ills. You're just getting fooled by the 7-2-2 record.

It is nice to see Larsson stick in the lineup and showing some improvement, but this is still not a terribly good team defensively or offensively. Cory's just stopping pucks at an awesome rate.

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Deboer apologists are just looking for reasons to defend him at this point, and are just reaching and grasping at straws.

 

There's nothing really to gain by defending DeBoer. But the truth is, we have in fact been playing pretty awful the past couple weeks. We're playing with fire and getting EXTREMELY lucky. The biggest bright spot has been Larsson's improvement and Schneider's play, and I'll be the first to say that's a major indication that DeBoer was mishandling Larsson. But the team is not playing better. We're getting the kind of luck that Toronto got last year when they were winning consistently, before they completely imploded. I think we'll get another win tomorrow night, but not much else after, which I guess I'm fine with considering the deadline's close.

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obviously we all knew deboer was holding him back from having the chance to develop in this league he basically chose every option possible not to have to use him.

 

It's a beautiful thing to witness now. The kid's playing with the most confidence he's ever had.

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It's called being objective.

 

When Deboer made a good coaching decision, I mentioned it.  When Deboer made a bad coaching decision, I mentioned it.

When the team plays bad, I'm gonna mention it.  When the team plays well, I'm gonna mention it.

 

So while it may seem like I'm going 180, my opinions are based on what I see.  Objectivity is a great thing.  Fact, I actually thought Deboer did a good job last year. They were stupid unlucky last year.  It's just this year, the team looked as if they tuned Deboer out.  Hence why I felt it was his time to go.  Hell, I still like Deboer, but his time was up.

 

Also, if you think they've been worse since the change, then you haven't been watching the games.  Defensively, they've been so much better.  This shouldn't even be debatable.  They haven't improved offensively, but they haven't gotten worse either.  The numbers and results don't lie.  The team has in fact improved.  You can see it in their play.

 

Deboer apologists are just looking for reasons to defend him at this point, and are just reaching and grasping at straws.

 

The point of the matter is, Larsson is playing with Greene for a reason.  He's been given the keys to go out and play his game, something Deboer did not let him do.  Lou realized how it's important for the young guys to be given the best chance to succeed, and he's doing it.  Remember the Isles debacle in OT, Deboer would have benched him for that.  Lou and company decided not to, and let the kid learn.  How about the fact Ryder is being held accountable now?  Deboer would never do that. The coaching regime is coaching the way it needs to in order for this team to have the brightest future possible.

It's being objective in that you may be saying things that are sorta true, but it's kinda strange to see someone change their tune so quickly when it's impossible to take anything significant away from what happens over the course of 10-20 games.

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  • 2 weeks later...

First category is relative scoring chance% and second is OZone Start% since the new year.

Spurgeon +14.4% 51.1%
Boyle +13.2% 65.9%
Erikkson +11.5% 54.3%
Gardiner +11.1% 52.4%
Klefbom +11% 61.2%
Larsson +11% 35.1%
Greene +10.6% 38.3%
Letang +9.4% 56.8%
Methot +9.3% 52.6%
Ekman-Larsson +9.3% 43.3%

 

This kid is good.

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The thought now becomes, how do you divide the minutes next season between Severson and Larsson. Severson was putting up elite numbers as a 20 year old with tough minutes. Does NJ sign a quality 2nd pair defensmen for Severson to play with or do you hope Merrill figures it out.

Tough decision but for me I would hope Merrill figures it out, rather throw big money at a quality forward in the next few years than have it tied up in a defenseman. We have plenty of those in the cheap
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The thought now becomes, how do you divide the minutes next season between Severson and Larsson. Severson was putting up elite numbers as a 20 year old with tough minutes. Does NJ sign a quality 2nd pair defensmen for Severson to play with or do you hope Merrill figures it out.

 

I think you sign an insurance policy type at the least.  I've been really disappointed in Merrill this year.  His stock has taken a big hit.

Tough decision but for me I would hope Merrill figures it out, rather throw big money at a quality forward in the next few years than have it tied up in a defenseman. We have plenty of those in the cheap

 

There really aren't any top line good forwards coming onto FA.  And the Devils probably will have enough money for probably two 2nd tier forwards over the next few years considering all the money they have coming off the cap.

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