Quote:
Originally Posted by Classic_Sniper
No elite #1 Center.
Who have been the Flames' foundational pieces for the last several decades?
Theo Fleury, Jarome Iginla, Johnny Gaudreau and soon to be Matthew Tkachuk.
This team has built their team on franchise wingers for as long as I've been in a fan of this team (young guns era). In that time we've also seen elite goaltenders, deep group on defense, quality wingers, all kinds of coaches (modern & veteran), small team, big team, skilled team, gritty team, young team, older team and etc etc etc.
But something I haven't personally seen yet is that elite, no questions asked, true #1 center. Olli Jokinen and Sean Monahan have been the closest, but if this team is trying to win a Stanley Cup or win multiple playoff rounds, is Sean Monahan going to out duel a Nathan McKinnon or a prime Ryan Getzlaf or a Leon Draisaitl of today?
If this organization ever wants to find one of these guys, then they have to draft one. They also have to stop picking #6 or #13 and etc. Generally speaking, these types of elite centers go first in a draft. Be patient, stop going the quick fix route (UFAs) and don't stop rebuilding until you find that guy(s).
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Interesting question - which teams have had a worse 'best' C in the cap era? I really like Monahan, but I think we're definitely in the bottom 10...maybe even bottom 5. The question is just about the best single, but I included a few options for who that might be.
Order arguable:
NYR - Zibanejad / M Nylander actually had two PPG seasons coming out the lockout) / B Richards (3)
CGY - Monahan / Langkow / Jokinen
NAS - Johansen / Legwand / Duchene / Arnott (4 yrs)
MIN - M Koivu / E Staal (3) / Demitra (2)
MTL - S Koivu / Plekanec
CBJ - PLD / Johansen / Fedorov (3 - high 43p)
ARI - it might actually be Derek Stepan or Nick Schmaltz. They have a bunch of guys who played a single season...none particularly impressively.
*VGK