Adam Larsson

By the end of the season, Larsson had tied the single-season record for the number of points in Elitserien among defencemen under age 18 with 17 points, a record that was set by Tomas Jonsson in 1977–78, who compiled 8 goals and 9 assists in 35 games.

Nils Erik Adam Larsson (born 12 November 1992) is a Swedish professional ice hockey defenceman and alternate captain for the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League (NHL).

After making the team following the Devils training camp, Larsson became the first 18-year-old defenceman to dress for the Devils since Petr Sykora in the 1995-96 season.

He also became the sixth under-20 defenceman to play for the Devils, and the first 18-year-old defenceman in the NHL since 2008, when Drew Doughty, Zach Bogosian and Luke Schenn all made their NHL debuts.

Upon making his NHL debut, Larsson averaged 24 minutes per game alongside defencemen Andy Greene and Henrik Tallinder.

Despite failing to tally a point through his first nine games, Larsson was praised by Greene for his puck handling and poise.

The 2009–10 Elitserien season turned out to be a spectacular breakthrough season for Larsson.

He scored two goals in an Elitserien game against Timrå IK on 15 October 2009.

Larsson fought Timrå IK forward Daniel Corso in a game on 2 November 2010, receiving a cut eyebrow during the altercation.

Larsson commented that he kept his gloves on because removing them during a fight in the Elitserien leads to an automatic one-game suspension.

Although Larsson did not remove his gloves, both he and Corso were suspended for two games and received fines as a result of the fight.

Larsson's play in the 2010–11 season earned him a nomination for the Elitserien Rookie of the Year award, which Mattias Ekholm would eventually win.

He was selected fourth overall by the New Jersey Devils in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

The youngest player on the Skellefteå AIK squad at the time of his draft, Larsson was the first defenceman and first European-trained player to be drafted in 2011.

Larsson was selected in the first round, fourth overall, by the New Jersey Devils in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

Seen as a move towards rebuilding the Devils defence corps, Larsson was rated by the NHL Central Scouting Bureau as the top European-based prospect available in the draft.

Larsson signed a three-year, entry-level contract with no bonuses at the NHL maximum of US$925,000 per year with the Devils on 15 July 2011, due to general manager Lou Lamoriello's disapproval of performance bonuses.

Larsson’s agent J.P. Barry said this was unusual for a top-10 draft pick.

Due to his play during the first three months of the season, Larsson was selected to the NHL All-Star Rookie SuperSkills Competition on 12 January 2012, along with teammate Adam Henrique.

At the time of the selection, Larsson led all rookie defencemen with 13 assists and 15 points while averaging 21:46 of ice time per game.

However, he chose to pull out due to a sore wrist and was replaced by Montreal Canadiens rookie defenceman Raphael Diaz.

Through his first 48 games in the NHL, Larsson averaged 21:48 minutes per games and had accumulated two goals and 14 assists while training with Devils assistant coach Larry Robinson.

His production was cut short after he suffered an injury on 2 February due to a hit from Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban.

Although he missed 10 games to recover, Larsson returned to the Devils' lineup still leading all Devils defencemen in points.

However, he only scored two assists through the final 16 games and he served as a healthy scratch for five of the team's last six regular season games.

He finished the regular season with two goals and 16 assists through 65 games and received one fifth-place vote for the Calder Memorial Trophy.

Beyond his point total, Larsson played an average of 26 seconds per game on the penalty kill, while averaging 1:38 on the power play.

Despite his success during the regular season, Larsson struggled to enter the Devils' lineup in the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs as he failed to make an appearance during their opening-round matchup against the Florida Panthers.

He eventually made his postseason debut in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia Flyers after Ilya Kovalchuk suffered an injury.

During his debut, he recorded five hits through 13 minutes and 15 seconds of ice time as well as tallied the game-tying goal in their eventual 4–1 win.

Upon scoring the game-tying goal, Larsson also became the first Devils rookie defenceman to score a goal in his first playoff game.

Due to his debut, Larsson remained in the Devils' lineup for Game 3 despite Kovalchuk returning.

He played in four more playoff games, going pointless through all, before being replaced by Peter Harrold prior to Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals against the New York Rangers.

Following their rookie seasons, Larsson and Henrique were assigned to the Devils American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Albany Devils, prior to the start of the 2012–13 season.

Due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout, numerous other NHL players opted to join the AHL while the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement was under talks.

Larsson tallied four goals and 15 assists in 33 games with Albany before making his season debut on 31 January 2013 in place of Mark Fayne.

Shortly after his 19th birthday, Larsson scored his first career NHL goal in the first period of an eventual 3–1 loss to the Washington Capitals on 11 November.

By mid-November, Larsson had accumulated six points while playing 22:49 per game as one of the Devils' top defencemen.

At the same time, he also tied a team rookie defenceman record by collecting points in five straight games between November 19 and 26.

Despite missing two games in late December to attend his grandmother's funeral, Larsson led all rookie defencemen with two goals and 11 assists for 13 points.