Dylan Larkin-Nikita Kucherov.JPG

The Red Wings' Dylan Larkin described his second season as a learning experience.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

DETROIT - Dylan Larkin made a seamless transition to the NHL as a 19-year-old in 2015 with the Detroit Red Wings and thought playing in this league was going to be a snap.

Then reality snapped back in his second season. It was tougher to score, even harder to defend. He was not ready to assume the top-line center spot.

Larkin described his second season as quite a learning experience.

"This game's a lot mental," Larkin said. "Do a lot of mental preparation this summer as well as physical preparation. Be ready to go from the first day.

"I think this year I kind of came in and thought it was going to be a little bit easy, I kind of had it figured out, but clearly didn't, so need to be better in all areas and I guess put it on my shoulders to be ready from Day 1."

Speaking on locker clean-out day April 11, Larkin displayed the kind of maturity many players don't exhibit until they're in their late 20s.

"I want to be a good player and the only way to do that is to look in the mirror," Larkin said. "You can't have anything given to you. It's not just going to magically happen. So, put a little pressure on myself this summer and it will be good to feel that. I need to come back and do my part this summer and have a solid year next year."

He said he needs to improve in all areas. His 17 goals were six fewer than in 2015-16 and his 32 points were 13 fewer than the previous season. He registered 43 fewer shots. After posting a plus-26 rating in his first 53 NHL games, mostly with Henrik Zetterberg as his center, Larkin has a minus-43 rating in his past 107 games.

"Defensively, I did make some improvements toward the end of the year, but I want to be better at faceoffs, make my linemates better, be stronger on the puck down low," Larkin said.

Larkin won just 45.4 percent of his draws (196-of-432), the only Red Wings below 50 percent among the six who took at least 400 faceoffs.

He noticed added attention from opponents early in the season.

"I think maybe a little bit in the beginning when you look up and see teams' best D," Larkin said. "Toward the end they were watching Z, so it freed up some space."

After being moved back to wing following the first two games of the season, Larkin returned to center the final month of the season. He'll start at center next season. Where he winds up depends on his performance.

"I felt like I had some really good chemistry with (Andreas Athanasiou) and always have good chemistry with (Justin Abdelkader)," Larkin said. "I felt good at center.

"I thought the last 20 games, I was playing and skating and playing center, winning faceoffs and it was a lot of fun."

Larkin said of the season: "They'll eat you up and then it will get in your head and you're screwed from there. Did learn a lot about myself. Hopefully the coaches learned about me."

Larkin will join teammates Jimmy Howard and Danny DeKeyser and coach Jeff Blashill on Team USA for the World Championship in Cologne, Germany, May 5-21.

It goes without saying he'd rather be in the playoffs.

"Games are just starting to heat up and this is when the fun happens," Larkin said. "It's very disappointing. I'll try to keep this taste in my mouth for the whole summer and remember this moment."