Friday Five: Dylan Larkin, playoff lessons, and off-season priorities
Breaking down Dylan Larkin's availability, lessons from the playoffs, and New Jersey’s off-season checklist.
Follow along on Twitter @ToddCordell | @InfernalAccess
Welcome to the second edition of the Friday Five, a new weekly column.
If you missed last week’s, the concept is simple. I choose five of the many great questions submitted from Infernal Access readers and do my best to answer them.
Let’s get right to the heat.
Q: Dylan Larkin. Yay or nay?
In a vacuum, absolutely yay.
Larkin has scored 30+ goals in five consecutive seasons and produced 70+ points per 82 games in each of them.
He has an excellent shot, is a plus skater, and consistently effective in the faceoff circle (he’s won at least 52% of his draws in seven of the last eight years).
Let Nico Hischier’s line continue to play the difficult minutes and staple Larkin to Jack Hughes.
Larkin would be the perfect addition in that he could help maximize Hughes’ skillset while also masking some of his shortcomings, like in the faceoff circle.
He’d also position the Devils as well as possible to overcome any potential injury that comes for one of their star pivots.
All that being said, I say nay for one reason and one reason only: price.
Steve Yzerman needs to get the Detroit Red Wings back in the playoffs as soon as possible.
If he’s trading his top line center and captain, I think it’ll be difficult to stomach a return where there isn’t an established or can’t miss stud coming back.
For fun, let’s say the Devils push their chips in and table all of 12th overall, Dawson Mercer, and Simon Nemec.
Yzerman’s looking at a 20-goal utility forward, an offensive defenseman littered with red flags, and a draft pick a year or two away from playing in the NHL. That’s a tough sell if he’s feeling heat to get into the playoffs.
And, unless Nico is completely unwilling to re-sign, the idea of a swap is foolish.
Q: What does Sunny have to accomplish in his 1st off-season with the franchise for us to consider it successful?
