Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli came pretty close to apologizing for the widely expected, but still surprising trade that sent former No. 1 overall pick Taylor Hall to New Jersey.
“It’s unfortunate in these deals (that) this is what you have to do,” Chiarelli said, but added he was getting back “a player that I’ve watched very closely this year and I can see his game trending up and it was time to act on it.”
That player is 23-year-old Adam Larsson, the fourth overall pick from the 2011 draft and someone Chiarelli is now counting on to fill a big hole on defence. Larsson has already been in the league for five seasons, joining the Devils as a 19-year-old, but he’s only begun to find his way in the NHL.
“I think he’s only scratched the surface,” Chiarelli said.
Like Edmonton, New Jersey was desperately searching for a “cornerstone” defenceman when they picked Larsson with the No. 4 pick at the 2011 draft in Minnesota. They had him ranked in their top three.
“Going into the year he was projected maybe to be the top guy,” recalled David Conte, the Devils head of amateur scouting at the time. “I envisioned him being a guy you’d have out there 20-23 minutes a game and being pretty much a complete, all-around player.”
Though general reaction has mostly condemned the move for Edmonton, Conte thinks the Oilers did well to solve a need. He believes Larsson is already reaching the potential New Jersey believed he had, that of a top-pairing defenceman capable of moving the puck effectively while soaking up big minutes.
Conte, who was relieved of his duties with the Devils last summer, still rhymes statistics of the club and its players off the top of his head. He notes Larsson led the defence with 17 even-strength points, a glowing positive given the responsibilities he was tasked with in New Jersey.
The Devils used Larsson on their top pair, matching him against top lines with a heavy number of starts in the defensive zone. He saw next to no time on the power play and absorbed the third-most penalty killing minutes of any defenceman in the league for the Devils eighth-ranked penalty kill.
The minutes weren’t easy, yet Conte said Larsson managed to more than hold his own.
The numbers might suggest otherwise. Larsson held a 45 per cent even-strength puck possession mark that was among the worst at the defence position last year, though in comparison to his own teammates the number was actually close to par; the Devils kept the puck only slightly less with Larsson on the ice despite the difficulty of his minutes.
It also appears that Larsson may have been hurt playing alongside 33-year-old Andy Greene as well as a Devils squad that scored fewer goals than any team in the league.
Conte, who still watches the Devils and NHL closely, believes Larsson made “big strides” in a shutdown role “on a team that didn’t score in front of him. And his offence should greatly improve because he’ll do a little better moving the puck up to Connor McDavid than he would Tyler Kennedy.”
Larsson’s 17 even-strength points would have actually led the Oilers defence last season.
His development followed a sometimes rocky path. Entering the league as a raw teenager, Larsson bounced in and out of the Devils lineup and was briefly sent to the AHL.
Chiarelli is gambling on Larsson’s upside, a bet that may be worth taking given the sometimes lengthy curve of development for defencemen. Just a few years ago, Victor Hedman, another big, easy-moving Swede picked in the top-five, was deemed to be a draft misfire for Tampa. He broke out with 13 goals and 55 points in his fifth NHL season and is now a Norris Trophy contender.
Conte acknowledges that Larsson is a different player than Hedman, but may just boast the same upside.
“I guess the question you would ask and a better way to put it is if Tampa had been able to trade Hedman for Hall three years ago what would anybody have said? Probably the same thing they’re saying now,” Conte said.
“And if they did it today they’d be saying ‘What’s Tampa thinking?”‘
Conte said Larsson is the sort of person dedicated to improvement, someone who thinks team first. He believes Larsson is already a defenceman of top-pairing quality and will feed that need immediately for the Oilers.
“It’s not like he’s taking Kevin Lowe’s place,” Conte said. “They’ve got great forwards, (but) they’ve got to get the puck before they can do anything. Whether the fans want the glitz and glamour and (a) spectacular player, the guys on the team that are getting the puck and getting that first pass they’re going to like him.”
