Quote:
Originally Posted by Number 39
One thing I do wonder about re: drafting centres. I feel like in the last while when the Flames develop a centre they have had a habit of breaking them in on the wing and it rarely happens that they eventually move to centre.
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Part of it is that Backlund is the best in the business at helping turn rookie linemates into reliable NHLers, and Backlund needs to play centre to be effective.
Pospisil looks like he's graduated from wing to centre this season, and I'm reasonably confident Zary will get his chance when there's an opening – probably due to injury. Obviously they don't want him on the fourth line, which is why they gave that job to Kirkland during Rooney's injury.
By the time Sharangovich comes back from IR, I imagine the team will be trading some surplus forwards for futures to make room on the roster. At that point, the team will have several young forwards with some experience playing C in the NHL – plus one more, if Conroy manages to swing the trade he wants.
At this time last year, I was downright worried about the Flames' depth on defence. Conroy showed he could turn a weakness into a strength in a hell of a hurry. Logic suggests that centre will be the next position he addresses.