The statistical impact of Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin

Ever since Dylan Larkin made the opening night roster for the Detroit Red Wings in his rookie season back in 2015, he has made an impact on the team. He hit the ice skating and was able to put up 23 goals and 45 points in his rookie season. He was selected as the Red Wings representative at the NHL All-Star Game that year, where he set the record for fastest skater. The Waterford Hills native was on fire and on his way to being a key player for the Red Wings.

After the stellar rookie season, Larkin hit a little bit of a sophomore slump in his second season and had some up-and-down years until he really hit his stride in the 21-22 season when he was named the 37th captain of the Detroit Red Wings. Since then, he has been the team's anchor, leading them on a steady upward trend ever since. He has been improving each year and is looking for the best season of his career.

Since we are all familiar with what we see Larkin doing out on the ice and can see the impact that he makes on the team, so I wanted to take see how the stats stack up when it comes to Larkin's impact on this team. Sometimes, what you see on the ice doesn't always come through in the stats, and I believe that data can give you insight into trends that may not be obvious when watching the games.

The data certainly backed up what we have all known and been seeing on the ice for a while. At this point in the season, the Red Wings have only been able to win one game without Larkin in the lineup. The sole win without Larkin on the ice was the game on the road against the St. Louis Blues earlier this season, which was a great team effort. Otherwise, without Larkin in the lineup, they have lost every time.

Dylan Larkin's scoring numbers strongly correlate to the Detroit Red Wings' success.

It turns out that the Red Wings have only been able to win three games this season in which Larkin played and did not score a point. In all other games where Larkin played and was kept off the scoresheet, they lost. One of those games was the one against Ottawa when Mathieu Joseph assaulted him, so that is a tough one to count in this category.

The numbers show that when Larkin scores a goal, the Wings did not lose in regulation. The team has a 13-0-2 record in the games where Larkin can bury at least one goal and has won both of the games where he has scored two goals this season. This impact was evident in the last two games played against the Los Angeles Kings and the Toronto Maple Leafs, where Larkin scored the first goal of the game in each contest and got his team fired up.

I know that Dylan Larkin's strong impact on the team is obvious to even the most casual fan; he is the captain, and his leadership is easy to see. I found it interesting to see the correlation between his scoring and the team's record so far this season. At the pace that he has been scoring, if he can keep it up and finally break the 80-point mark this season, I believe that will be what the Wings need to make the push into a playoff spot finally.