Johan Larsson: 2021-22 season review

June 8, 2022 10:25 am

As a trade deadline pickup, Johan Larsson did nothing less than save Washington’s fourth line.

By the Numbers

14	games played
11.9	time on ice per game
1	goals
5	assists
55.4	5-on-5 shot-attempt percentage
58.9	5-on-5 expected goal percentage
46.2	5-on-5 goal percentage

Visualization by HockeyViz

About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows lots of information for the player over the season. A short description of each chart:

Most common teammates during 5-on-5
Ice time per game, split up by game state
5-on-5 adjusted shot attempts by the team (black) and opponents (red)
5-on-5 adjusted shooting percentage by the team (black) and opponents (red)
Individual scoring events by the player
5-on-5 adjusted offensive (black) and defensive (red) zone starts

Peter’s Take

For years, Larsson was one of those fabled players where everyone’s like, “Okay, but what if he were on any team that is NOT an embarrassment to the league?” We learned the answer to that question when the Capitals acquired Larsson on March 21. Larsson slotted in on the fourth line alongside Hathaway and Dowd, and he looked like had been playing with those guys for years: physically oppressive, defensively elite – Larsson was immediately the ideal bottom-six forward.

We already discussed this in the Dowd review, but the Larsson version of the fourth line was very good.

If you play a full season with that trio, I promise you’re going to see the goal numbers favor Washington. Which is why I’m hoping Washington can make a deal with the unrestricted free agent. There’s a lot to worry about with the Capitals next season, but the fourth line should not be one of them.