from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News,
When Larkin broke in with the Red Wings three years ago, it represented a radical departure in philosophy for the franchise and GM Ken Holland. It had been 25 years since the Red Wings had regularly used a teenager in their lineup when Larkin broke in for the 2015-16 season. Now he’s four years into his career with the security of a five-year deal worth $6.1 million per year that’s probably going to look very, very team-friendly by the time it expires. The Red Wings are mucking it out trying to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, which is much better than most of the pundits thought. And much of that is due to Larkin, who spent the first two years of his career on the wing, but is now firmly ensconced as a center and is producing at close to a point-per-game clip.
“It’s looking upwards,” Larkin said. “The way we’re playing right now, I think we’ve shocked a lot of people. A lot of people thought we were going to be bottom three or last in the league, but we’re battling right now and we’re exciting to watch. We have a lot of good, young players coming up who are exciting a lot of people in Detroit.”
Much of that has to do with the 22-year-old Larkin, who will almost certainly be the next captain of this team.
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