Dylan Larkin
The future captain of the Detroit Red Wings signed a five-year contract extension last week worth 6.1 million per season. The significant pay raise means his production is expected to continue to increase moving forward.
Dylan Larkin who led all Detroit forwards in ice time last season capitalized by leading the team in points with 63. 63 points, but only converted 16 goals on his 232 shots on net.
Larkin has a lot of room for improvement in the goal-scoring category. A shooting percentage of only 6.9% is way down from his two previous seasons. His rookie season, Larkin converted 10.4% of his shots into goals.
Two seasons ago in his second season, Larkin had a “down” year finding himself slumping and struggling often, but still managed to score on 9.6% of his shots.
It’s simple math, if Larkin could have converted at a rate he has shown in the past last year he would have scored 23 times. Larkin averaged 2.8 shots a game last season; he must make a conscious effort to shoot the puck more often, get more shots through traffic.
If Dylan Larkin can find a way to record 3.65 shots or more a game, he should end up around that 30 goal mark for the Red Wings. 30 goals, 50 assists totaling 80 points for the number one center and best player on the roster, in today’s NHL would be an excellent stat line.
The Michigan native and one time stand-out player for the Michigan Wolverines now finds himself the face of his favorite childhood NHL team.
Dylan Larkin will be asked to shoulder the franchise moving forward; he seems like he’s ready to embrace the role and we should expect improvements in all areas of his game.