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Old 02-02-2015, 10:45 PM   #4
Jay Random
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The last example I can think of is Anaheim in the days when they were still the Mighty Ducks. That team had a decent amount of success with two wingers as its marquee players – Kariya and Selanne. Any old centre who could be defensively responsible and win some faceoffs was good enough to play between them. But they never had a sniff at the Cup during that period, and I'm sure they would have been more successful if one of those two had been a centre instead of a winger.

The Boston Bruins put together some really strong teams built around a defenceman and a winger – Ray Bourque and Cam Neely. Again, they never won the Cup, but they made the finals twice and ran up against Edmonton teams that seemed to have inherited the Blues Brothers' ‘mission from God’.

Ideally, you want four key players: a defenceman, a goalie, and a centre-and-winger combo. Even Gretzky wouldn't have been the same without Kurri. Of course, the Flames look like they have that part of the formula down pat. If Johnny Gaudreau turns out to have good chemistry with Bennett, that could be one of the top duos in the league for years to come.
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