Quote:
Originally Posted by djsFlames
He's played Monahan at center for the entire camp. Why suddenly flip him to the wing, and then take out one of your biggest and fastest forwards? Facepalm at Brent for those brilliant moves.
On the flip side, lovin what Gillies is bringing. Just lovin it.
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As Schooner said, it is development camp.
Sutter is looking not only looking to see who the best players are, but also what the best players are for certain roles, and how dynamic their games are with respect to moving through the lineup. I would rank Monahan as the best center at camp right now, followed by Gauthier and then Reinhart (though Gauthier slots in much better as the 3rd liner center, and Reinhart as the 2nd).
However, injuries happen. Sutter is trying to see who looks comfortable playing out of position, how smart they are and how dynamic they are out there.
In my mind, Jankowski has done well from this standpoint. He may not have played himself onto the team at this point, but he most assuredly has not played himself off it either, and that is due to his demonstrated ability to play different positions and different roles.
For tournaments like these, coaches really like to see what players bring under different circumstances that might end up happening as the tournament progresses. Maybe Sutter wants to see if someone like Monahan can play wing as effectively as Shinkaruk, who probably isn't ready at all to play center in case of injury. Someone like Monahan (or other centers) make the team rather than a winger, as a 'safety' that perhaps another center gets injured during the tournament.
Really lots of reasons. Getting the win is the last of them, however. These games are just for the players to prove themselves, and the coaches to see what they have and how to begin thinking of slotting them properly for their roles.