The topic of handedness down the middle - How much do you value it?

[Victoire HuGo]

Hello all,

It's your favorite Sondage Léger wannabe.

A lot of talk has been put toward our future 2nd line center and some seem to be putting a lot of value in the handedness of this center for all sorts of reason: faceoffs (MSL puts his guys on their strong side all the time), variety for play schemes, matchups etc.

How much would you be willing to sacrifice or leave on the table between two targets purely on handedness?

E.g. target #1 is a bonafide 55 pts left handed center
Target #2 is a bonafide 60 pts right handed center

Do you trade for target #1 just because he's a lefty or who cares?

 

[BenchBrawl]

I value it a lot.

The crux of our winning history came when we had Béliveau/Henri, a LHS/RHS combo, at center.

Other classic examples: Lemieux/Francis, Yzerman/Fedorov, Apps/Kennedy.

Having Nick Suzuki is GREAT, because RHS centers are rarer. Much easier to find a suitable LHS 2C.

Just makes Suzuki even more valuable than he already is.

 

[Captain Mountain]

I'd prefer a left handed center, but also +/- 5 points doesn't really matter all that much. Whats the age? Playstyle? size? physicality? How good are they defensively? Whats the contract? trade cost?

Points and handedness aren't near the top of the list.

 

[Victoire HuGo]

I'd prefer a left handed center, but also +/- 5 points doesn't really matter all that much. Whats the age? Playstyle? size? physicality? How good are they defensively? Whats the contract? trade cost?

Points and handedness aren't near the top of the list.

This is in a scenario of similar value in terms of what else they bring at the table.

 

[Captain Mountain]

This is in a scenario of similar value in terms of what else they bring at the table.

But whats the baseline?

Like if both are responsible defensively, I take the left shot. If they both suck defensively, then I'd rather have the guy who gets more points.

 

[Sorinth]

It's nice to have a good mix but not worth going for a worse player. Although part of the problem with your poll is that you can't really say one player is better then another because of a 1-3 point difference in points.

It's also worth noting that the biggest value comes from taking defensive zone faceoffs, so depending on the profile of the 2C you might not use them in the defensive zone even on their strong side unless they are good defensively. It's arguably better to have Evans out there on his weak side then say Yannick Perreault on his strong side.

 

[WeThreeKings]

It's not important that we have a left shot in the top 6 BUT we currently have
Suzuki
Kapanen
Evans
Beck
Hage
Dach

as right shot centers, we don't really have anyone who shoots left down the middle but Florian. So yeah, we need a left shot center if we can get one.

 

[Paddyjack]

IMO, this question of handiness will be great when it is the last of our problems Until then, who cares.