Quote:
Originally Posted by Pointman
True. There were several interviews (in Russian) explaining that. It took me 10 minutes to dig two of them:
http://fanzone.khl.ru/news/14402/
Q: You came over (to Russia) as center, but were moved to left wing. Alexey Kaluzny (Omsk's top center) explained that as centers have different roles at czechia and russia.
A: Never (in my career) I was coming back (to defend in my own zone). I was technically playing center, was taking faceoffs, but on defensive zone I was at left wing position. That's pretty much the way I play here (at KHL), except for I'm not taking draws. Initially Summanen (Omsk's coach) made me center, but me and Kaluzny decided it would be better for me to play left wing and Summanen didn't mind it.
http://www.peoples.ru/sport/hockey/roman_cervenka/
Q: Roman, you are versatile forward, aren't you?
A: Well, I used to be center.
Q: Why it didn't work out at KHL?
A: At KHL centers have to play defense. I never did. So wing is better for me. |
When we signed Cervenka and subsequently let Jokinen walk I argued until I was blue in the face telling everyone that Cervenka was a winger, even showed numbers that in his entire KHL career Cervenka took less draws than an average 4th line center does in 1 year in the NHL, but because he was introduced to the media as a centermen no one would listen to me and somehow thought as a 27 year old rookie that he would actually replace Jokinen.