Ottawa Senators: 3 Free Agent Signings to Get Behind

Adam Larsson

The Contract: 3-years $18 million

Larsson would be one of the best possible options to put next to Thomas Chabot for the next few seasons. The 6’3″ 208-pound defenceman is extremely responsible in his own end and could act similarly to the way Marc Methot used to play with Erik Karlsson, but with significantly more upside.

The stay-at-home defenceman finished the season appearing in all 56 of the Oilers’ games while producing 10 points in the process, Larsson will never cheat for offense so don’t expect him to come in and be something he’s not in Ottawa.

The high-event, sporadic play that has been consistent on Thomas Chabot’s right-side for the past few seasons (thanks Nikita Zaitsev) cannot be present if the Senators top-rearguard wants to progress into one of the league’s premier defenceman, the low-event, stable play of Larsson is exactly what’s needed opposite of Chabot.

Here’s how Larsson fared analytically compared to his Oilers’ teammates:

• 46.00 CF% (16th)
• 48.12 xGF% (13th)

Here’s a look at Jfresh’s model, which paints a better picture of Larsson as a player:

An effective player at 5v5 defensively, Larsson was relied upon heavily in the defensive zone by Oilers Head Coach Dave Tippett, starting just 37.63% of his face-offs in the offensive zone. If this materializes it allows the Senators to start the season with Larsson on the top-pairing and relegate Nikita Zaitsev to a more manageable role on the third-pairing.