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Your Call: Who will bounce back? Larkin or Nyquist?
Keystone Press

Your Call: Who will bounce back? Larkin or Nyquist?

The Wings need both players to pick it up. Who's more likely to put up points in 2017-18?

HockeyFeed

HockeyFeed

Burning question for all Detroit Red Wings fans: who will have the best bounce back season for the Wings in 2017-18, Dylan Larkin or Gustav Nyqvist? In a perfect world, of course, the answer would be both. But let's get real. The Wings' offence doesn't project to put up many points this season, so asked for an improvement from both players seems like a stretch.

Last season, Larkin, 21, scored 17 goals and added 15 assists for a total of 32 points in 80 games. That’s not bad, but if we compare those numbers with his rookie season, it's clear he suffered a huge sophomore slump. The former first round pick in 2014 (15th overall) posted 23 goals and 22 assits in 82 games in 2015-2016, so the Red Wings organisation was expecting big things from him last season. His +/- differential went from +11 two years ago to -28 last year. Larkin is still young and he'll be given every opportunity to turn things around, but can he produce in 2017-18?

For Nyquist, it’s a different story, mainly because he’s not as young as Larkin. The 28-year-old Swede scored only 17 goals two years ago, and 12 last season, after he had back-to-back 20 goal seasons in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. That’s a big drop, and the Red Wings organisation must certainly be concerned about it.

They’ll certainly need both these guys to bounce back and play like they used to be, as Detroit missed the playoffs last year, ending their post-season appearances streak to 25 seasons. If, and it’s a big if, they have a chance to make it back to the playoffs this season, it is certainly linked with Larkin and Nyqvist performances.

So what do you think? Who will have the bigger bounce back season for the Wings? Larkin or Nyquist?