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Head coach Todd McLellan echoed the sentiment:

“It’s insanity if you keep banging your head against a wall. We needed to shore up a hole. I know there is a lot of talk about (losing) that dynamic offensive guy, but we also needed a good shutdown 20-minute-a-night guy, and we believe we have that in Larsson.”

Even those who hated the trade couldn’t argue with the underlying logic of the Oilers needing to “shore up” that gaping hole on defence. The price was dear, and the player coming west a whole lot less known than the guy going the other way. One who did know Larsson pretty well was another hockey man with local connections, Edmonton native Ken Daneyko. The career Devil turned colour analyst of the team had these reassuring words:

“Adam Larsson is as sound and mistake-free a defenceman as you’ll see in your zone, in the neutral zone, playing against top players. He can stand on his own. He’s a top-pairing defenceman in this league. I know fans always look at the flash and the flair but he does all the little things, excellent first pass and uses his stick very well in terms of deflecting passes with the speed of today’s game, and with his gap control, but I think his offence will grow in Edmonton after being a shutdown guy with the Devils.”

More later on his offensive game, but for sure the strength of his game is on the defensive side of the puck. In addition to bringing the attributes described by Daneyko, Larsson surprised a lot of observers with his uncompromising physicality. Players who went down his side of the ice or into his corner paid a price for those forays, as he dished out the grease with alacrity. His 253 hits led the team by a wide margin and ranked 6th overall in the entire league. Some were landed with malice aforethought, others more strategically, another weapon in his large bag of tricks for separating an opponent from the puck.