Sabre Noise
Fansided

Buffalo Sabres Give Johan Larsson A Make-Or-Break One-Year Extension

By Richard Spalding

Mar 7, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Buffalo Sabres left wing Johan Larsson (22) skates with the puck as Toronto Maple Leafs center Brooks Laich (23) gives chase at Air Canada Centre. The Sabres beat the Maple Leafs 4-3 in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 7, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Buffalo Sabres left wing Johan Larsson (22) skates with the puck as Toronto Maple Leafs center Brooks Laich (23) gives chase at Air Canada Centre. The Sabres beat the Maple Leafs 4-3 in a shootout. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Buffalo Sabres have put the writing on the wall for the young Swede.

The Buffalo Sabres signed forward Johan Larsson to a one-year extension on Friday, good to the tune of $950,000.

Obviously, this is good news for Larsson – I wish I was making close to a million US dollars next year at my job! – but the good news comes with a caveat: show us you are worth a long-term contract, kid, or you’ll be out the door come 2017.

That might sound harsh, given the fact that Larsson is only 23 years-old, just finished his first full season with the Sabres, and set a career high for goals (10) and points (17 ) in an NHL season.  This is not a case of a player regressing; Larsson looked as good during the months of March and April as he ever has in his young career.

More from Sabre Noise

Still, looking as good as ever may not be enough for a team that needs to put the finishing touches on a roster that is not quite ready for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  For every positive that can be found in Larsson’s 2015-16 campaign – tying Jack Eichel for the team lead in game-winning goals (5) – there’s a glaring negative; for example, Larsson was goalless in his first 27 games last season, and had only two after 54.

There’s more to Larsson’s game than his offensive production, obviously – the man started 62.4% of his shifts in the defensive zone last season (the highest such percentage out of all Sabres players), dished out 113 hits, blocked 33 shots, and created 21 takeways.  He also won 388 of the 759 even-strength faceoffs that he took, good for 51%.   Larsson is asked to do a lot for the Buffalo Sabres on the defensive end of the ice, and while plus/minus is a fairly useless statistic at times, Larsson emerged from the season with a respectable -4, if that means anything to you!

Even though Larsson is primarily a defense-first kind of forward, you still have to think that the Sabres want to see that they can count on him to generate 25+ points of offensive and become much more consistent on that side of the ice – did I mention that Larsson went 30 straight games without an assist?!?  Ouch – if they are going to commit to giving him a spot on the roster.  Larsson could be a solid third-line forward for this team, but he will have to shoot more (95 shots in 74 games just won’t cut it) and find his groove much earlier in the season.

Next: Sabres Hurt By Anaheim's Early Exit

Hey – Johan Larsson is making a pretty good chunk of change playing for the Buffalo Sabres in 2016-17, and he pretty much controls his own fate, so no one should be feeling sorry for the guy.  The fact that Buffalo chose to only extend his contract for one more year, however, tells you that the team is still undecided on whether there will be room for Larsson on the bench moving forward.  As much as I love to watch his work on the defensive side of things, he is going to have to become far more reliable on offense if he wants to prove he can help this team make it to the promised land.

Home/Sabres News