Long term, what do you see the Avs doing at centre?

[ponder]

How do you guys see the Avs centre situation getting settled long term? Obviously, the Avs have 3 fairly young roster players who are #1 or #2 centre quality (Duchene, Stastny and ROR), and they just took another potential susperstar centre 1st overall (MacKinnon). So how do you see the Avs handling the logjam in the long term?

- Trading 2 of the centres? If so, which 2?
- Trading 1 of the centres, and having 1 of the remaining 3 as an over-talented 3rd line centre? If so, which centre traded, and which one on the 3rd line?
- Trading 1, moving 1 to the wing? Again, which traded/moved?
- Keeping all 4, moving 2 to the wing?
- Keeping all 4, with 3 at centre, 1 on the wing?


***Note: I'm an outside fan, but I'm not trying to turn this into some hair brained trade proposal or anything. I just think the Avs are in a very interesting situation, am curious to see how it shakes out, and would love to get the opinion of Avs fans.

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[Duchene2MacKinnon]

For now ROR will be on wing but that experiment won't last long. They'll move him back to his natural position then have 3 centres, the other guy gets traded so we don't have to speak about him again.

 

[CobraAcesS]

How do you guys see the Avs centre situation getting settled long term? Obviously, the Avs have 3 fairly young roster players who are #1 or #2 centre quality (Duchene, Stastny and ROR), and they just took another potential susperstar centre 1st overall (MacKinnon). So how do you see the Avs handling the logjam in the long term?

- Trading 2 of the centres? If so, which 2?
- Trading 1 of the centres, and having 1 of the remaining 3 as an over-talented 3rd line centre? If so, which centre traded, and which one on the 3rd line?
- Trading 1, moving 1 to the wing? Again, which traded/moved?
- Keeping all 4, moving 2 to the wing?
- Keeping all 4, with 3 at centre, 1 on the wing?


***Note: I'm an outside fan, but I'm not trying to turn this into some hair brained trade proposal or anything. I just think the Avs are in a very interesting situation, am curious to see how it shakes out, and would love to get the opinion of Avs fans.

- Trading 1 of the centres, and having 1 of the remaining 3 as an over-talented 3rd line centre? If so, which centre traded, and which one on the 3rd line?
- Trading 1, moving 1 to the wing? Again, which traded/moved?

I'd say those are the most popular two with the top one being the generally in the lead, and it's an endless debate as to which is traded. Lots of ammunition on both sides to be honest.

However even if we kept one as an over-talented 3rd center, he most likely wouldn't be used as a typical '3rd line center'. He'd see quite a bit more time on the power play, and quite a bit more ice time in general than your average 3rd center.

Our 4th line would almost not even need a center, you could legitimately dress three wingers for the bottom line. In fact they were used at times like that last year where all three got all the ice time as the centers with one or two of them playing with the 4th line guys at different times in the game.

 

[Burnaby_Joe*]

I know Duchene and MacKinnon will be 1-2. I think O'Reilly or Stastny will be traded. If Stastny is traded, O'Reilly can take the 3rd spot or play wing.

 

[A Shiny Zubat]

I definitely can see Stastny and O'Reilly gone, but I can also see a situation with Stastny on the wing in a few years if he stays, and if he becomes Ryan O'Humble, RoR handling the 3rd center role amazingly, winning the selkes we know he can.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I definitely can see Stastny and O'Reilly gone, but I can also see a situation with Stastny on the wing in a few years if he stays, and if he becomes Ryan O'Humble, RoR handling the 3rd center role amazingly, winning the selkes we know he can.

He won't score enough to win the Selke if he stays with us, (Which is pathetic to say, but most likely true) he'd need at least a #2 center role.

 

[AvalancheFan19]

I mean, it's early to say and maybe a little out there but Mackinnon, Duchene and O'Reilly/Stastny is a pretty elite group of centers in my opinion.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Getting out my crystal ball... I'm operating on the assumption that Duchene and MacKinnon are locks as 1-2 centers as soon as next season.

The most likely scenario is trading one and moving the other to wing because if one of the two is going to get paid like a top 6 forward they should play there and the Avs are not going to tie up that kind of money for a 3C when they could promote a prospect such as Hishon or Sgarbossa for much cheaper. This probably depends on the success of ROR at wing though. If he doesn't work out there then he can just take more of a 3C role, which will always be more a scoring role on this team. I believe ROR is the most likely to stay because of his RFA status and he's younger.

I can't envision a decent scenario where Stastny remains on this team because of his UFA status. He can likely get more money and a 1-2C role on another team. If the grand plan changes to become Stastny on wing instead maybe it is a little more attractive to him to stay but still I believe the lure of UFA with a whole new world of options to him isn't going to add up in the Avs favor.

Of course this all depends on what the demands from either player are at the negotiation table. If Stastny is thrilled to sign a cheap deal to be the 3C then they will keep him. Conversely if there is another negotiation fiasco with ROR then they will trade him. There is a better chance both are gone than both stay though the Avs priority is to keep one of them. If money/contracts were not a primary issue then they probably would find a place for all four centers but that is not going to be the reality going forward.

My prediction is they trade Stastny at the deadline and open the wallet to pay ROR.

 

[Freudian]

It's impossible to keep all four at center. It's hard to keep three of them without some serious ice time juggling (having them play PP/PK to get enough minutes).

So either one of them sticks on wing and is injury insurance and is happy with that role or it's impossible to keep all four happy and Avs have to trade at least one of them.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Best case scenerio is that O'Reilly agrees to be our 3c and Staz can translate to the wing just like he did when he played with Sakic. I don't think O'Ego will want to be a 3c though. He knows he could easily be a number 2 or even number 1 on some other teams so I see him being moved before the start of the 2014-15 season. I think Staz stays in Colorado long term. He will like Roy as a coach, will play good hockey and will play any role he is asked.

Duchene is already a great 1C and I think Mackinnon will prove before the end of the season he is already a 1C too.

 

[ThatAvsGamer]

I want O'reilly to be the 3rd line center and Stastny to transfer to wing. Or trade Stastny for a decent Dman.

But it seems we will be keeping Stastny and letting go of O'reilly with Stastny being placed as 2nd line C and O'reilly being placed on the wing for the start of this season.

 

[Mr Serious]

I would like to see the Avs run Duchene, MacKinnon, O'Reilly down the middle.

What we do with Stastny (i.e. convert to winger or trade for help) would be up to management and coaches.

 

[AslanRH]

I'll work off of the 2015-2016 season.
Duchene and MacK will be the #1/2
Stastny will be #3C or have shifted to #2 LW behind Lando
O'Reilly will do very well as a LW(2013-2014) but will be traded due to issues with contract negotiations.

I hope we can make them all fit in though
ROR-Dutch-PAP
Tangs-MacK-Lando
Sgar/Hish-Stastny-______

 

[Dutchy09*]

I hope we get to keep both of them, I love all our centers and really don't want any of them to leave. Maybe we can convert ROR to defense and Stastny to the wing

 

[niwotsblessing]

What do I see the Avs doing at center?

This year is evaluation time for Stastny and O'Character. If they are willing to be team players, both on and off the ice, we'll keep them both, with one on the wing, and dominate the NHL for the next 12 years.

 

[Ivan13]

Somewhere in the not so realistic future I'd like to see this:

Radar-Duchene-PAP
Stastny-Mac-Landeskog

 

[TatteredTornNFrayed]

In order of likelihood, I'd rank them as

1) Trading 1 of the centres, and having 1 of the remaining 3 as an over-talented 3rd line centre? If so, which centre traded, and which one on the 3rd line?
2) Keeping all 4, with 3 at centre, 1 on the wing?
3) Trading 1, moving 1 to the wing? Again, which traded/moved?
4) Keeping all 4, moving 2 to the wing?
5) Trading 2 of the centres? If so, which 2?

As to which one traded, it's between Stastny and O'Reilly, and I think contract demands and willingness to fit on the team where needed will drive who goes (or if neither goes.)

I'd personally like #2, to keep them all and roll basically 3 centers and no 4th line center, and have one of the others playing wing, but able to fill in for spot duty or injuries. But again, it will come down to whether Paul and/or Ryan are willing to stay in those kind of roles longer term. I think the Avs would be happy to keep that kind of depth, but those guys may or may not want those kind of roles.

This will of course become even more complicated as soon as we draft another #1C next year.

 

[shadow1]

I think they will end up with Duchene and MacKinnon as the team's top two centers long term.

 

[Bonzai12]

Duchene and MacKinnon....I wouldn't be shocked if ROR and Stastny both were not Avs next year.

We just need to make sure both of them don't leave for nothing.

 

[bohlmeister]

I'm not making any judgement until I see how all these guys look with Roy behind the bench.

 

[Foppa]

Ideally, O'Reilly is a big success playing on Duchene's wing and accepts a reasonable long-term deal to stay. If the experiment on wing is a success, he's a much better fit going forward to keep than Stastny given his age and newfound versatility. Because in the long-run, Duchene and MacKinnon should be so good that the team eventually returns to a traditional third line/checking line like back in the Sakic/Forsberg days where you had a plugger like Yelle anchoring and playing a lot less. And if one of them gets hurt, O'Reilly just moves back to the pivot.

 

[Rhaego]

Where's the trade all 4 option?

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Stastny - Duchy - PAP
XXX - MacKinnon - XXX
Landeskog - ROR - XXX
Bordeleau - Heard - Malone

That's the forward groups I think we have three years from now. McGinn, Downie and Sgarbossa might fill in the other holes, possibly Hishon or Agozzino too. I could see Landy and ROR with Mack or on their own line too.

That first line would be awesome though.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Stastny - Duchy - PAP
XXX - MacKinnon - XXX
Landeskog - ROR - XXX
Bordeleau - Heard - Malone

That's the forward groups I think we have three years from now. McGinn, Downie and Sgarbossa might fill in the other holes, possibly Hishon or Agozzino too. I could see Landy and ROR with Mack or on their own line too.

That first line would be awesome though.

I would be stunned if all 4 of the centers are still with the team next season, let alone three years from now.

 

[Jazzguitar]

As much as I love all 4 of them, I also would be stunned if we kept them all. Unless two of them work out great on the wing, we almost have to make a trade.

Very reminiscent of when the Av's traded Owen Nolan. I wouldn't be surprised to see Stastny play 7-15 games and then get traded for a defense-man.