How important is centre depth?

[FlamesAddiction]

Depth is important in any position to a degree, but what do you define as depth?

I'd say that at least equally important and probably even more important is having at least one bonafide top line centre.

I'd rather have one centre with 1st line talent, one with 2nd line talent, one with 3rd line talent, and one with 4th line talent; than 4 centres all with 2nd line talent. There is only so much ice-time (and cap space) to go around.

For us, we need to worry about getting that top line talent first and then work on depth. Build from the top down. Not that you don't take any opportunity to improve a position of course.

[Lanny's Stache]

Looking back at the 2003 Draft, that was our best chance of getting that true #1 centre. Drafted after Phaneuf: Jeff Carter, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler, Mike Richards.....

I know it is easy to say that in hindsight, but it just sucks to see that list and know that we essentially are left with nothing from that first round.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by Lanny's Stache

Looking back at the 2003 Draft, that was our best chance of getting that true #1 centre. Drafted after Phaneuf: Jeff Carter, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Kesler, Mike Richards.....

I know it is easy to say that in hindsight, but it just sucks to see that list and know that we essentially are left with nothing from that first round.

Or the second round, where guys like Shea Weber were picked.

Tim Ramholt.

[Frank MetaMusil]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Or the second round, where guys like Shea Weber were picked.

Tim Ramholt.

Bergeron, Carle......

[David Struch]

Originally Posted by Lanny's Stache

Looking back at the 2003 Draft, that was our best chance of getting that true #1 centre.

I know it is easy to say that in hindsight,

And then the following season Darryl Sutter passes on another good centre...

Would've been nice to have Mike Richards & Travis Zajac centring the likes of Iginla, Huselius, Tanguay, Cammalleri, during the last 6-7 seasons.

[Sylvanfan]

As much as that top lined skilled center has eluded the Flames for nearly 20 years now, a solid checking pivot would be nice to have too. Craig Conroy was good at it for a few seasons in more of a two way role, and Stephane Yelle also did a nice job during his time as a Flame. Even getting a good faceoff guy who's strong in his own end would represent a big improvement for the Flames.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Sylvanfan

As much as that top lined skilled center has eluded the Flames for nearly 20 years now, a solid checking pivot would be nice to have too. Craig Conroy was good at it for a few seasons in more of a two way role, and Stephane Yelle also did a nice job during his time as a Flame. Even getting a good faceoff guy who's strong in his own end would represent a big improvement for the Flames.

Jones may be the answer for that role

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Or the second round, where guys like Shea Weber were picked.

Tim Ramholt.

Even Nashville "passed" on Weber three times before picking him. He was their 4th pick oddly enough.

[CSharp]

Flames have:

#1 Goalie (Kipper) - check
#1 D-pairing (JBo, Butler, Regher, Phaneuf, Sarich (at one point), the list goes on...) - check
#1 Right Wing (Iggy) - check
#1 Left Wing (Tangay, Jokinen, or whoever they want as left wing) - check
#1 Centerman - Nada

That's been like that for...more than 2 decades!!! It's overdue! Flames need one!

[Street Pharmacist]

I'm not one to bump my own old thread, but with the season almost half over I think it's relevant again as this has been our undoing.
Every team in the playoffs have drafted their own number one centre except San Jose. Even then, they have other drafted centres better than ours. It's clearly been holding us back. We are missing backlund and Cervenka isn't the centre we though we were getting.


Can we draft anything other than a centre? Is there any point to looking for anything else?

[Badgers Nose]

- win the puck on draws
- like having a 3rd big d when you need one
- large and hard to move away from the net

in other words, all the things this team is missing

[Badgers Nose]

Flames are a stupid team.

They always do stupid things. 15 years of not having a 1C and they draft goalies. The slowest position to develop and one the Flames have only ever developed one good player in their entire history: Vernon.

IMO you should always pick the best C or D at your draft position. C can play W, or you can deal from depth, teams always need C and D. Now they have nothing, and a single internally developed C who is currently hurt.

Flames literally do everything wrong except PR. And doing PR well is a recent development.

They hung on to clutch and grab slow pokes when the league changed in 2005. Now they are going high skill when the best teams in the NHL are big and tough.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Or the second round, where guys like Shea Weber were picked.

Tim Ramholt.

Even Nashville passed on Weber twice before taking him with their third pick. Hindsight is beautiful.

[genetic_phreek]

Centre depth is important but an anchor on D is more important IMO. All those teams you named had guys like Lidstrom, Keith, Niedermayer, Pronger, Doughty, Letang etc.

Flames can barely get it out of their zone. Also, an example is the Oilers are supposedly this high powered offensively stacked team but are weak in the backend that they are even worse than we are.

[PeteLFan]

We wont win, we wont contend until we fix the middle. Right now we have 1 centre. If Backlund can round into form and become a 2nd line centre, and Stajan can continue playing well as a 3rd line centre, then we are getting somewhere. Getting a #1 centre is going to be difficult, so we just need to keep drafting and developing and hopefully we hit the jackpot at some point.

What Feaster should have done was strengthen the centre ice position, and create lots of depth, since we don't have that #1 guy. Even in Boston, I don't think they have a true #1 centre, but they had 4 really good ones, that could play both ends of the rink. That should be our goal for right now, instead we have the worst centre depth in the NHL.

[Weiser Wonder]

It's very important. Good teams are almost invariably strong at the center position. At the bare minimum, teams need 3 centers that are capable defensively. You can be a competitive team with just that. The more offensive skill you add on top of that, the better.

But one thing is for sure, you can't expect to be competitive by putting career wingers at the center position for long periods of time. There's no way a winger can learn the center position at an elite level without huge growing pains that will result in a lot of goals against and losses.

Last night was a great example of why the Flames are losing. They outworked the Ducks but the Ducks controlled the middle of the ice and won the game. The Flames deficit at center makes them have to work way too hard to even be competitive.

[Yakbutter]

Not only does Calgary not have a first line center, they don't even have 3 legitimate nhl centers. How stupid was it to go into the season with Backlund and Stajan as the only two centers.

Feaster should be fired for such incompetence. I understand top 6 centers are not easy to come by, but this "who needs centers lets just force wingers to play the position" strategy is so bizarre. Failed to land Richards, could not land ROR, can't make a trade for one.

Feasters days of blaming Daryl's mess are over. He's been on the job for more than 2 years now. This is his vision of a good team, and it doesn't make any sense.

[bubbsy]

yes, center depth is important.

No, the flames lack any such concept on their roster.

to be fair, management tried to fix the problem by trying to sign brad richards for a decade long contract, and then were willing to give a 22 year old with potential 6.5 million +2.5 million signing bonus + part with a likely lottery pick + 3rd round pick in the hope for <the CBJ's> getting a potential #1 center.....

[dammage79]

If the Flames can trade one of Bouwmeester or Gio, they should be able to get a good young center and have a real nice top three centers.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by dammage79

If the Flames can trade one of Bouwmeester or Gio, they should be able to get a good young center and have a real nice top three centers.

Not sure I agree. Backlund is still really an unknown and Stajan has 20 games of being a quality top 2 center in three plus years, so I could argue we don't really even have two yet.