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Center--Johan Larsson
DOB: July 25, 1992 (Age, 26)
Draft: 2010, 2nd round (56th overall) MIN
How acquired: Trade with MIN, April 3, 2013
Last contract signed: July 8, 2017, 2yr./$2.95 million
Final year of contract: 2018-19 (RFA with arbitration rights)
2018-19 Stats: 73 games | 6 goals | 8 points | -8 | 14:18 ATOI
Buffalo Career Stats: 331 games | 32 goals | 47 assists | 79 points | -49 | 14:36 ATOI
What we wrote preseason: Prior to his foot injury against the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this week, Larsson seemed like a bubble player. He had a rough season last year and despite coming to camp with a different attitude and a sharper focus, Larsson hasn't had an impact in a bottom-six role. Add to that his lack of speed, which most other bubble forwards have, and it looked as if he was on the way out prior to his injury.
What we wrote mid-season: At the end of last season many wanted him bought out and shipped out on the first boat back to Europe. However, Larsson knew he had a terrible season and went to work over the summer to make corrections. Housley noticed the change at camp and after fits and starts to begin the season the season, Larsson excelled and is now locked into a fourth-line center role with top-unit penalty kill duties. He and Girgensons have really made that line into a force and they might be having a positive effect on Thompson, who seems to have picked up his game. There's no doubt we would like to see better production than his five points (3+2) in 31 games but Larsson's defensive role, as well as that of being Housley's go-to faceoff guy as of late, makes him a solid piece on a winning team this year.
Impressions on his play this year: I'm not sure if he really was a bubble player during preseason, but he sure as hell played like it. From October to the Christmas break he really looked like a solid fourth-line center who excelled in a defensive role. When the bottom fell out with the team Larsson easily took a tumble along with them.
Zemgus Girgensons and Larsson are two sides of the same coin who have played together a lot in the Sabres system. Both were put in strictly defensive roles (Larsson with a second-most 84.4% d-zone starts) and have failed to produce more than reserve-forward type numbers lately. In addition to that, they seen, and contributed to, a lot of losing here in Buffalo. Despite their solid defensive play, having both on the team doesn't bode well for the future and because both are restricted free agents with arbitration rights, there's a good possibility that one of the two, or even both, could be allowed to walk.
Despite his less than NHL-caliber speed (as opposed to Girgensons' north/south NHL speed) when Larsson is on his game, he's very hard to play against and we saw spurts of that last season when the team was winning. But as things got progressively worse, any positives the 26 yr. old Swede had going for him vanished. His time with the Sabres seems to be tied with the incoming coach and the health of young players like Sean Malone who looks to be heir-apparent on the fourth line.
Questions moving forward: Can the incoming coach build a winning environment? Can Larsson contribute to that and will he be able to thrive in that environment? Would a Swedish coach like Rickard Grönborg be able to get more out of Larsson? Can he do better than 14 points (6+8) and 50.7 faceoff percentage regardless of the coach? Is it time to move on from him?
Contract info via CapFriendly, stats via sabres.com and hockey reference.com.
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