When Gretzky set his now impossible mark, goaltending average save percentage was 875. With the accuracy of the kids these days, that mark would be broken by a few guys in todays game.
The game has changed so much that positions no longer have the same duties that they used to. I dont see the cache of a centreman designation except to describe a forward skill level and even that is somewhat nebulous beyond the second line. I'm not sure if you get anything more from the kid playing center and you might actually get less due to faceoff duties he has not practiced in years.
I've always thought Marner could play centre, no problem. Marner and Keon are very similar indeed.
What is that even supposed to mean? Tavares is doing perfectly fine at center, and there's no reason to think that will stop anytime soon. I don't know why people have this desire for centers to switch to wing as they age. Barely anybody does that, and that doesn't really fit Tavares' game.
Tavares just turned 32. He is not close to retirement. Eventually he will hit a point where he will start a slow decline, but that has nothing to do with the position he plays.
He has 2 and a half years left on his current contract, and then is likely to sign another multi-year contract. He's in this league until at least his mid-30s, if not his late 30s. There's no reason to believe he's going to retire anytime soon. And regardless of when you think he's going to retire, we have him right now, so there's no reason to start flipping things around right now for no reason.
And he should be let to walk and sign for peanuts on the dollar elsewhere like Gio, Spezza, Heatley, Jumbo and other aged mercenaries no longer worth a big ticket.
He was drafted as a center and was a center when he won the cup, but the leafs made him back into a winger. He's referred to as a winger that acts like a center. Nylander too
Bc they don't get considered for awards bc they're not centers even though they used to be and play like it. It's like doing 5 jobs without the title of manager and a higher pay bc you're just a entry level position in title
He played RW even at London. Think they only listed him at C bc(at that time) they lost out on 3Cs, McD, Eichel and Strome.
I wouldn't worry about awards. Also, if they're going to be overlooked for awards, it's going to be because they're Leafs, not because they're wingers. The skillsets of Marner/Nylander match winger far more than center, and the skillsets of Matthews/Tavares match center far more than winger. No reason to change things.
Obviously we don't want Tavares at 0.5 PPG... but he's not at 0.5 PPG. He's hovering close to PPG. And even if he was at 0.5 PPG, him doing that at center or wing makes no difference, so might as well keep people at their optimal positions and at least extract extra things like faceoff value out of Tavares (which involves more than just practice).
