Ehlers versus Larkin

[JEMS]

H2H- Cats: G,A,PTS,PP, +\-, GWG, PIM, Shots.
Whose the better own for the following season and beyond between Ehlers and Larkin.

[Belexus75]

Ehlers...only way Larkin comes close is if you have FoW which you dont.

[zambronies]

I see this as fairly close, but I give the edge to Ehlers.

As an Ehlers owner, I do get frustrated with his injury history though.

[random-d]

I would personally take Larkin here. Even if your league doesn't count FOs you have to consider that Larkin is on a team heading up while Ehlers is on team that's likely middling or heading down. When you also factor in Ehlers injury history and the fact that he's never gotten the deployment he deserves in Winnipeg, Larkin seems like the best bet to me. Ehlers might be close to equal next year but beyond that I prefer Larkin to be the easy favorite for base production.

[Bubba55]

I would personally take Larkin here. Even if your league doesn't count FOs you have to consider that Larkin is on a team heading up while Ehlers is on team that's likely middling or heading down. When you also factor in Ehlers injury history and the fact that he's never gotten the deployment he deserves in Winnipeg, Larkin seems like the best bet to me. Ehlers might be close to equal next year but beyond that I prefer Larkin to be the easy favorite for base production.

I'm also thinking along similar lines. First off, I agree, the Wings are trending up, the Jets down. It gets more interesting when you look at possible deployment and line mates. Ehlers spent a lot of time with Wheeler, 35 years old, and Statsny, 36 years old. When you look at the Jets depth chart, there is not a whole lot there with the exception of Perfetti. I just don't see this working in Ehlers favour. On the other side of the coin, Larkin, still only 25 BTW, is in his prime and playing with Bert and Raymond. Veleno, Berggren and Zadina are all in the pipeline and that's not a bad group. As a last point, Ehlers injury history and deployment are simply not as conducive to success as Larkin's IMO, he's been" the guy" and relatively injury free, by comparison, he's absolutely central to Yzerman's rebuild. This is by no means a blow out, but I'm liking Larkin for the reasons discussed.

[ericdaoust]

Both are frustrating players to own. I would go with Larkin.

[bbfl1987]

It’s close, but I’m going with Larkin. Much better talent to play with.

[Smurf54]

Kind of a tough one, but I actually lean towards Ehlers.

Detroit is definitely on the way up, but Larkin has been getting prime deployment all along. I think he's very good. But not sure he's great. And while I think he will improve with the team around him, I also think he is due for some regression from this year's results, which may cancel out any positive impact from team improvements (for example, his 14.6% shooting percentage was his best year by far, well above his 9.8% career average). His shots/game have remained relatively consistent over the past 5 years (around 3), and his ice time has generally been flat (around 20 mins +/-). So there are signs that this year's pace was a bit of an outlier. And no indication that his own game and play-driving has improved significantly.

At some point, Ehlers is going to get the deployment he deserves. I think he will pop when he finally gets his chance. An increase in TOI and PP TOI alone should have a significant impact on his scoring rates. And while there are concerns about Winnipeg's roster as a whole, there is some comfort in knowing that he will always likely have a reliable C to play with for the foreseeable future (whether Scheifele, Dubois, or Perfetti) . When Ehlers is finally "the guy" in Winnipeg, watch out.

[stevegamer]

Forward positions broken out, or not?

If so, Ehlers. If not, pick whichever you prefer.

[JEMS]

We do use positions as C,LW,RW; however, I prefer going with the player who brings the most upside the next three seasons. Seeing the replies, it is close between the two.