So I see a lot of posters saying Colborne is a great fit for a second or third line centre? Much less people saying second but still a few out there. The other comment was I and other people who dislike Colborne don't actually know what a third liner is. I'm going to have to disagree a bit here and here's why.
With respect to knowing what a third line centre looks like... I look at a guy like Jordan Staal back when he was on the penguins in that 3rd line centre role. That's what I want, maybe even slightly better (I can dream too right?) and that's what I look for when I'm looking at our 3rd line centre position, or any person whos big and on the third line. More so dependable than some prolific goal scorer... Those 20 goals will come if they play the game right, no matter who it is. Colborne hasn't even hit TWENTY so I'm not even sure why we are classifying him as a consistent 20 goal scorer.. he's got close @ 19 once, and only past 15 twice... so he's much more like a 10 goal scorer at most and that may be a stretch. He only hit above 10 when a carrot was dangled too, whether that carrot be trying to make an NHL team, contract or avoid getting put in the AHL again. His top gear is just so underwhelming. I also tend to agree with the other posters and could careless about the goals he got after Hudler got traded, where was his compete when it mattered? It mattered when his contract situation was the driver. That bothers me. Burke said as much if i recall correctly.
When I look at Colborne, not even close to the same comfort level as Staal -- Colborne makes soo many little frustrating mistakes when he has the puck and can be caught out of position quite frequently. I really don't think he's as rare as people are making him out to be? The NHL is trending towards smaller dudes anyway so that large logic while still applies isn't as important as it once was, there are many other characteristics that seem to out weigh height these days. And I'm 6'5" too so it's not like I hate tall people
And Colborne isn't a bruiser -- it's not like he's throwing his weight around and crushing people. I'd much rather put Backlund on the third at centre with Ferland and another big bruiser reliable winger to be honest, or even a guy like Andrew Shaw.
Joe's an interesting guy for sure. One thing I think holds him back a bit is his metabolism and body structure. The amount of cals he needs to eat to fill his frame and keep his weight up at his current level is enormous -- he's eating like 10 meals a day. He's on a super special diet just to keep him from skin and bones and when you have to eat that much... it's difficult to keep that going, feel great all the time and be super quick on your feet... now this could certainly fall in the hyperbole category but I really do think it factors in. You look at our long schedule, road games, and having to keep that diet up... It's tough.
I get that he's a good fellow... I just think we need to up our expectations here, especially if we're talking cup run in a few years. He'd be a good fit on a bottom six team as a third line or even second line centre but we need to move on from that. I actually think he'd do well as a third liner on the Oilers and possibly thrive in that role for a few years and hope that he grew with them or would need to move on the same. Am I completely out to lunch here? Look at the last 5 or 6 cup winners -- who was their Colborne? They didn't really have one as far as I can see.