Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Can the Flames become successful long term without an ELITE #1C ?

PepsiFree · 11-04-2016, 02:32 PM

I think we're fine. As Jiri said, Kopitar and Bergeron weren't seen as "elite" until much later, and really, if Toews hadn't been a huge leader during two Cup wins, would anyone call his play "elite"?

Whatever elite means, there's no prototype. I see both Monahan and Bennett as bonafide #1 centre potentials (Monahan, despite his slow start, is there already) and I think that's more than enough.

Having great talent down the middle is more important than the "one guy." Monahan, Bennett, and Backlund make us a pretty lucky team in that regard.

11-04-2016, 02:32 PM	#7
PepsiFree Participant Join Date: Jul 2015 Exp:	I think we're fine. As Jiri said, Kopitar and Bergeron weren't seen as "elite" until much later, and really, if Toews hadn't been a huge leader during two Cup wins, would anyone call his play "elite"? Whatever elite means, there's no prototype. I see both Monahan and Bennett as bonafide #1 centre potentials (Monahan, despite his slow start, is there already) and I think that's more than enough. Having great talent down the middle is more important than the "one guy." Monahan, Bennett, and Backlund make us a pretty lucky team in that regard.