The Coyotes hope they have done that by acquiring Galchenyuk to add to the current center options of Derek Stepan, Christian Dvorak, Dylan Strome, Marcus Kruger and Nick Cousins. Clearly, all six of those players cannot play center at the same time, but they could in situations that play to their strengths. It’s what Chayka likes to call “optionality.”
“It’s one of my favorite buzzwords because there is value in it,” he said. “A lot of people view this center-wing thing as a negative. I view it as a positive if we have versatility. If you have flexibility and malleability to your roster, it allows the coach a lot of options. You see it in the NFL and NBA; the ability to guard and play multiple positions is valuable. We want to play fast so having guys who can play multiple positions makes them more interchangeable.”
Tocchet cautioned against extreme versions of that approach.
“You’ve got to be careful not to bounce people around and prevent them from getting comfortable,” he said. “Some players like it and some don’t, but there are situations where having two centers on a line can be helpful, face-offs, righties, lefties, and maybe the NHL is going more toward a system like that.”
The Coyotes were weighing other options at the center position, which was their top priority this offseason. There were other players rumored to be available, Buffalo’s Ryan O’Reilly among them, but Galchenyuk $4.9 million cap hit over the next two seasons, and the asking price of just one player vs. multiple assets led Chayka to the belief that this was the best deal available.
