Quote:
Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus
I think you're digging too far into dated small player jargin where the odd person is concerned about his size. There are plenty of 5'11 or below centers that have turned into fantastic top 6 players, if not top line players recently. Nick Suzuki, Seth Jarvis, Marco Rossi, even Jack Hughes etc.
Every legit scout has said as long as Reschny's skating continues to trend upwards like you say, then he's a can't miss player that could well outperform his draft slot. It's also quite common for players skating to be labeled an area of improvement. He's not even billed as a weak skater, just someone that needs to work on his skating to reach his full potential.
None of this adds up to a situation where he's not able to play C in my mind unless something really unforeseen happens like an injury or he falls off a cliff performance wise.
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His skating isn't too bad, especially with how smart and determined he is, but yeah, he's got to work on it (and he will regardless).
That McKenna/Reschny clip is a pretty good demonstration of the skills he has that should help keep him at centre: he's smart, calm, has amazing on ice awareness, and he positions himself well and is constantly reading the ice so his angles are easy.
You can see him, after he takes the puck back from McKenna, first look for the cross ice pass -- which he probably would have hit for a ++ scoring opportunity if the defender had pinched in more -- and then he quickly pivots to find McKenna with a quick pass and a ++ scoring chance. He then stays high to support the puck and is in a good position to disrupt the cycle when his teammates lose the board battle. The opposition disrupts his pass behind the net and they cycle it to the other side... where he's already cutting across to support his d pinching, first going to the wall in case the puck pops out quickly and then back at the point to minimize a rush.
This isn't an unusual shift for him either. So excited for this prospect.