New Jersey Devils 2012 Stanley Cup Team: Where are they now?
Adam Larsson
After being drafted fourth overall in the 2011 NHL Draft, Adam Larsson was supposed to be the future of the New Jersey Devils’ defense. After making the team outright to start 2011, Larsson became one of the youngest Devils to ever play for the team and chewed up a rather hefty amount of ice time as an 18-year-old. He also regularly played on the team’s power play and penalty kill units.
After returning from his injury, Adam Larsson was a healthy scratch more often than not, and head coach Pete DeBoer instead elected to use veteran Peter Harrold instead. Larsson finally cracked the playoff lineup in Game Two against the Philadelphia Flyers, and would go on to score the game-tying goal in a 4-1 victory. In doing so, he became the first Devils rookie defenseman to score their first playoff goal in their first playoff game.
In classic mid-2010s New Jersey Devils fashion, DeBoer and Co. put Larsson in and out of the lineup after that, instead of playing the stud rookie based on merit. Little did Larsson know that Game One against the New York Rangers would be his last playoff appearance as a New Jersey Devils player. It’s really no wonder why the team couldn’t produce even a half-decent prospect during those lean years following the 2012 playoffs.
Larsson would then be traded to the Edmonton Oilers for Taylor Hall on June 29, 2016, following some uneventful years in the seasons succeeding 2011-12. Hall was great as a Devil and won the Hart Trophy in 2017-18, but he hasn’t done much of anything since. Larsson won a gold medal with Sweden in 2018 as he developed into a defense-first top-pairing defenseman in Edmonton, and reprised that role with the Seattle Kraken after being selected by them in the 2021 Expansion Draft.
Adam Larsson wore the ‘A’ for the Kraken this past season, and alongside Vince Dunn, led them to the playoffs, where they would upset the defending champion Colorado Avalanche in seven games. Larsson has played all 82 games in each of the last two seasons, and scored a career-best 33 points in 2022-23. He will turn 31 in November.