centres….
August 22nd, 2008 by thewordbirdThe Canucks, while waiting for the Mats Sundin saga to be addressed, must look at the depth of the centre position and think to themselves, “Who will be taking the majority of the draws?”
True, Pavol Demitra has been a contributor points-wise during his career but has never been a guy you can bank on to win those big draws in a clutch situation. To further the point, Demitra is a nautral winger and would benefit from a strong skater and deft passer to compliment his skills to skate with Steve Bernier perhaps.
This is a precarious precipice. Kyle Wellwood, Cody Hodgson and Sundin present three factors that could either come through or leave gapin’ holes. Vancouver has two known quantities at pivot and can rely on Ryan Johnson heavily in PK situations. Henrik Sedin is not a great faceoff specialist but can be put to the fire in logging substantial minutes to be sure. Sedins point production has risen over his career as well.
Wellwood would do well to grab at the chances he will be afforded and really has a great opportunity to revive his career and status in the National Hockey League. Hodgson should really be groomed to provide for the future, yet careers have been made ‘out of mold’ in this way. It is just not a common path as it is not responsible to thrust kids into the fire that way. Sundin - we all know how that would benefit the team and the ‘trickle-down effect’ could be a major impact felt in the North West Division.
August 22nd, 2008
Robin Keith Thompson
