In 2015, Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin broke into the league as a teenager, put up 45 points and led his team in plus-minus as a teenaged rookie. The Red Wings forward came into 2016-17 with big expectations, but instead slumped to 32 points and a minus-28 rating, ahead of only Riley Sheahan among Detroit skaters.

One of the contributing factors to Larkin’s frustrating season was his deployment. After serving as Justin Abdelkader and Henrik Zetterberg’s right winger for most of 2015-16, Larkin played both center – his natural position – and wing with a rotating cast of linemates in 2016-17.

This lack of consistency, both in process and result, certainly led to heated discussions amongst fans about his future role with the Wings. First-line centers, which would be Larkin’s ideal destination for the Red Wings, are rare assets in the NHL. Scoring wingers are a little bit easier to draft or acquire via trade.

Detroit is far from alone in being faced with this dilemma. The Tampa Bay Lightning organization was still unsure where to slot Steven Stamkos in at even strength eight years into his NHL career. The Montreal Canadiens may deal Alex Galchenyuk to another team without ever finding out if he can both score and drive play as a pivot. The Toronto Maple Leafs are happy to have William Nylander play anywhere on their roster, but would certainly prefer him to supplant Tyler Bozak their top right-handed centerman.

In a previous article, I broke down three defensive habits any young player needs to master when playing center against the best in the world. This time, we’ll dig into the center-versus-wing debate by focusing on the offensive side of the puck.

Before getting to the implications of position on Larkin’s game, let’s talk about another smooth-skating, high-scoring Midwesterner: Phil Kessel. Now seen as a prototypical shooting winger, Kessel actually played center all the way up to his second NHL season as a member of the Boston Bruins.

Fairly or not, the Wisconsin-native was perceived as a player with trouble mastering the defensive side of the game and who wasn’t using his teammates quite well enough. After winning only 42.3 percent of his faceoffs in 2007-08, the Bruins bumped Kessel to the ring wing permanently.

The move worked wonders for Kessel, who broke out with a 36-goal campaign in 2008-09 and who hasn’t scored fewer than 23 goals in a full season since. While Pittsburgh centers Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Matt Cullen need to work hard to come back below the puck and attack from the defensive side of the puck, Kessel can stay above the fray and get a half-step on opposing defensemen in the neutral zone – more like a wide receiver than a running back.

New #1MinuteTactics : To be the best, you need to work like the best. See how #Crosby stays D side to help @penguins regain possession pic.twitter.com/wqlry6C5ze — Jack Han (@ml_han) November 16, 2016

This season, Kessel scored five of his 15 even-strength goals off the rush. Finding space beside or behind the opposition rather than building up the play from the bottom-up would be akin to cheating for offense if one played center. But for wingers, that is exactly what they should be doing in order to create space and put themselves in a position to score.

In his rookie year, Larkin notched 10 of his 19 even-strength goals off the rush. Linemate Zetterberg’s ability to control the middle of the ice often allowed the young American to use his all-world speed to beat defenders on the outside. If the puck was in the Detroit zone, Larkin also had the freedom to drift up-ice, knowing that his teammates are looking out for him as a breakaway threat.

This year, Larkin only scored 11 goals at even-strength. His only rush goal of the season was also his first, a breakaway tally against Carolina in October 25 2016.

The adjustments made to his game this past season related to playing center may have caused his even-strength scoring to dry up as well as adjustments made by opposing teams that have picked up on Larkin’s tendencies in the offensive zone. Larkin’s defensive impact in high-danger areas remains significantly worse than team-average, and he has only won 44.5 percent of 532 faceoffs taken since 2015. However, Larkin has scored 10 more goals than Kessel two years into his NHL career and remains in the same class as Jack Eichel, Patrick Kane and Auston Matthews as the most productive American teenagers in recent memory.

This begs the question: If this is the opportunity cost of Larkin playing exclusively down the middle, would the Red Wings even want him to play there? Why not put him on a line with Sheahan, Frans Nielsen or Darren Helm, and let them do the heavy lifting so that Larkin can maximize his finishing ability?

If I were Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, I’d give this plan serious thought. Every NHL team can use a 20-year-old Phil Kessel.

Stats via Hockey-Reference.com