Common theme of the draft is SIZE down the middle. What is the future of our C's?

[hockeyfan2k11]

I know some are still clinging to the hope that we can be successful with a 5'6 1st line centerman but if they watched last night they'd see that all but one centerman drafted was 6ft+. Teams are going big down the middle so we need to as well.

Gally
Pleks
DD
Eller

Who stays/goes?

I guess DD can be moved to the wing? If I get a good offer, I move him, though. There's no rush as we don't know if Gally will make the team this year, but currently we're too small at C.

I can see Pleks getting traded but I don't know why he would be. He's a perfect 2nd line centerman and I think if he were to be traded the return wouldn't be that great.

Eller stays. Probably gets another year to prove himself. I could see him as part of a package to get an impact player.

 

[maci4life]

Theme of the draft was pick a D.

 

[Undertakerqc]

Well i se our center line up for the future as

1-Galchenyuk
2-DD
3-Ellers
4-Rugged 4th line center


Plekanec traded for a winger

 

[AllanMTL46]

I see Eller going to the wing in the future, letting Galchenyuk, Pleks and DD be the top 3 centers with a real 4th line center.

 

[Et le But]

Don't move anyone right now please. Unless some team offers you something desperate for Plekanec, go into this season and move someone if we need to tank.

IMO Desharnais' future is on the wing, but I have a bad feeling it won't happen. Right now on TSN 990 they are continuing to claim that line can't be broken up, even if it makes no sense.

 

[The Gal Pals]

DD can't play wing. Eventually when Gally becomes a mainstay with the team, Pleks/DD could probably be traded for a top 6 winger. DD will be cheaper to keep though.

 

[Et le But]

DD can't play wing. Eventually when Gally becomes a mainstay with the team, Pleks/DD could probably be traded for a top 6 winger. DD will be cheaper to keep though.

Why can't DD play wing? His strength is passing and vision, not puck possession.

 

[TennisMenace]

I see Eller going to the wing in the future, letting Galchenyuk, Pleks and DD be the top 3 centers with a real 4th line center.

This post makes sense to me.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Eller is incredibly better at C.

Eller is going to be groomed as the Plekanec replacement. Plekanec will eventually be dealt when DD and Gally can take over offensive duties and Eller can be the 60 point shutdown center.

 

[Habaneros]

I know some are still clinging to the hope that we can be successful with a 5'6 1st line centerman but if they watched last night they'd see that all but one centerman drafted was 6ft+. Teams are going big down the middle so we need to as well.

Gally
Pleks
DD
Eller

Who stays/goes?

I guess DD can be moved to the wing? If I get a good offer, I move him, though. There's no rush as we don't know if Gally will make the team this year, but currently we're too small at C.

I can see Pleks getting traded but I don't know why he would be. He's a perfect 2nd line centerman and I think if he were to be traded the return wouldn't be that great.

Eller stays. Probably gets another year to prove himself. I could see him as part of a package to get an impact player.

It is really irrelevant who goes, JUST AS LONG as we get max value for whoever we trade,if that is indeed the case.
Staal was played on wing at 18 ,by MT.......

What i don't want is the Habs to deal a player on a 6-12 game pointless streak! That has been classic Montreal for way too LONG. Deal high , not when the player is low .

 

[Born in 1909]

Eller is incredibly better at C.

Eller is going to be groomed as the Plekanec replacement. Plekanec will eventually be dealt when DD and Gally can take over offensive duties and Eller can be the 60 point shutdown center.

He is a long way from 60 points.

 

[OldCraig71]

Trade away Plekanec? Just like guys like him come along everyday. He is a valuable player that does not need to go anywhere, offensive ability,excellent penalty killer,great face off man and also I forgot to mention he plays against all the top opposing forwards. Let DD or Eller try and do what he does and then we will see how they compare to him. I'm not downing either one of them but they are not in Plekanec territory just yet, he is our best overall forward.

 

[Estimated_Prophet]

I have grown to really like Desharnais but he will be the odd man out. He is more of a stop gap solution but probably is not part of a championship calibre team.

 

[Poulet Kostopoulos]

Waaay too early to think about moving Plek. For starters, we don't even know if DD can repeat his great season.

 

[Protest the Hero]

It really depends on Davids next season. I think he'd be a better option to move to the wing than Eller though. Eller wasn't very strong on the wing in his few games there last season. He would need to improve his faceoff game big time, but in two years, with DD moved to the wing, our centres could look like:

Galchenyuk
Plekanec
Eller
Some guy

With Eller possibly supplanting Plekanec if his development continues on its current path.

 

[Halifaxhab*]

Before we start trading anyone, let's see how the pucks fall first. Everything rides on how Eller, DD and Pleks do, also how well and how fast Galchenyuk, LL (outside shots Pribyl, Naatinen, Enqvist) devellop.


We do have options if everyone does what they are capable of

 

[Agnostic]

Size down the middle has always been the theme. Decades of smurf lines has caused some to forget this. Dd is a flash in the pan and will be evaluated eventually as the undersized player he is . I dont see a role for him on a good team

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

In 2-3 years if Eller's offensive game progresses and Plekanec's regresses a bit I wouldn't mind seeing the centres like this:

Galchenyuk
Eller
Plekanec

Plekanec will still be 32-33 with lots of hockey left and can be used as a shutdown guy on a two-way line with maybe Bournival/Leblanc. I'm high on Gallagher and think he definitely has top 6 potential and I wouldn't want to have two smaller guys like him and Desharnais both in our top 6..

 

[Blind Gardien]

I don't think we're going to figure anything out this summer. And we don't need to. Let them play some more. See how the chemistry sticks with the DD line, see if he has another step up to take, see how Eller grows, see if he gets any more auditions on wing and what that looks like (it didn't look great before, but still wasn't a lot of time and not necessarily in optimal conditions), etc.

Also, see how competitive the team is. At some point, if the team approaches contention, and a deadline star player rental becomes a viable option, then that's probably more the time to visit the question of what to do with any perceived surpluses.

No rush.

 

[Ohashi_Jouzu*]

The only team in our division that didn't get bigger AND better down the middle so far is Boston... but they have Chara and Lucic. Ottawa is already bigger and better down the middle. Buffalo just added Grigorenko, Girgensons, Kea, and Nelson to the fold. Toronto didn't get any bigger down the centre, I guess. Added JVR up front though, and have some bigger beef down the centre to begin with (can't really say they're "better" than ours, though).

I don't think we're bad at centre, but strategy and systems will be important for managing this kind of growing mismatch down the middle of the ice.

 

[UniverStalinGraduate*]

He is a long way from 60 points.

Indeed he is, but he put up 18 goals last year playing with almost exclusively poor offensive linemates and no PP time.

I have no idea what he develops into, but it wouldn't shock me at all if he was a 20 goal 30 assist guy.

 

[AraGOHABSGO]

He is a long way from 60 points.

Well, By playing a 3rd/4th line time and wingers ( not to mention constantly being switched from winger and center ), he put up 28 points this season.

Which is not bad and half way to the 60. Compare it to the 1st season where he got 17 points. 60 points is still far away, but long way? I'd say in a couple of years he's going to get around 50 points.

 

[muzion]

DD's lack of size doesn't bother me, as his hockey IQ more than makes up for it. His line plays most of the time with the puck, he's great on the cycle and wins more battles in the offensive zone than Plekanec. I don't know what else he's gotta do for people to stop worrying about his size.

 

[Natey]

Ugh. I hate all these size threads. So annoying.

No, we are not too small down the centre. The biggest problems with this team is lack of depth on the wings and an elite player (that most teams have at least one of).

 

[Hoople]

In 2-3 years if Eller's offensive game progresses and Plekanec's regresses a bit I wouldn't mind seeing the centres like this:

Galchenyuk
Eller
Plekanec

Plekanec will still be 32-33 with lots of hockey left and can be used as a shutdown guy on a two-way line with maybe Bournival/Leblanc. I'm high on Gallagher and think he definitely has top 6 potential and I wouldn't want to have two smaller guys like him and Desharnais both in our top 6..

Can we afford to wait two or three years for Eller to progress? I would think that this year will be the bellwether year for Eller. Either he becomes a goal/point scorer or he gets traded for picks.

His progression has been horribly slow so far. Twenty-eight points in 79 games is not cutting it.