Ottawa's Center Depth - How Does is Compare to the Rest of the NHL?

[Hemmer Time]

Where does our centre depth rank compared to all 30 teams?

My category rankings:


(In no particular order in the groups)


Pittsburgh (Crosby-Malkin-Sutter-Goc)

------------------------------------------

LA (Kopitar-Carter-Stoll-Richards)
SJS (Thornton - Couture-Pavelski-Desjardins)
ANA (Getlzaf-Kesler-Cogliano-Thompson)
COL (Duchene-Mackinnon-O'Reilly-Mitchell)
DAL (Seguin-Spezza-Eakin-Fiddler)
BOS (Krejci-Bergeron-Soderberg-Campbell)

-------------------------------------------

CHI (Toews-Richards-Shaw-Kruger)
Tampa (Stamkos-Filpulla/Johnson-Killorn-Boyle)
Carolina (Staal-Staal-Lindholm-McClement)
PHI (Giroux-Schenn-Couturier-Lecavalier)
NYI (Tavares-Grabovski-Strome-Cizikas)

--------------------------------------------

CBJ (Johansen-Dubinsky-Anisimov)
MIN (Koivu-Granlund-Haula-Brodziak)
STL (Statsny-Berglund-Sobotka-Lehtera)
DET (Datsyuk - Weiss - Sheahan - Helm)

--------------------------------------------

NYR (Stepan-Brassard-Lindberg-Moore)
WPG (Little-Scheifele-Perrault-Slater)
MTL (Plekanec-Desharnais-Eller-Malhotra)
OTT (Turris-Legwand-Zibanejad-Smith)
WSH (Backstrom-Laich-Johanssen-Beagle)
VAN (Sedin-Bonino-Vey-Matthias)
TOR (Bozak-Kadri-Santiorelli-Kontiola)

---------------------------------------------

NJD (Zajac-Elias-Henrique-Gionta)
ARZ (Vermette-Gagner-Hanzal-Vitale)

------------------------------------------

EDM (Nugent-Hopkins-Draisatl-Gordon-Arcobello)
NSH(Jokinen-Fisher-Jarnkrok-Cullen)
CGY (Backlund-Monahan-Stajan-Colborne)
BUF (Ennis-Girgensons-Reinhart-McCormick)
FLA (Barkov-Bjugstad-Bolland-Mackenzie)

Click to read more...

 

[BK201]

Insecure.

 

[RedWhiteBlackGold]

A lot of teams have a better 1-2 punch down the middle. But I like our 2-3-4 punch better than some of those top teams.

 

[PoutineSp00nZ]

Solid depth, lacks top end talent.

 

[King Karlsson]

It's not bad, good depth, but just for what it's worth, I do not think Detroit should be in the same tier as CBJ, MIN, and STL.. minus Datsyuk their depth is ****, I guess Helm is decent but Weiss is trash and Sheahan has only played 44 NHL games

 

[RedWhiteBlackGold]

It's not bad, good depth, but just for what it's worth, I do not think Detroit should be in the same tier as CBJ, MIN, and STL.. minus Datsyuk their depth is ****, I guess Helm is decent but Weiss is trash and Sheahan has only played 44 NHL games

Yeah I thought the same but Datsyuk when healthy puts them there himself alone. The question these days is if he can remain healthy?

 

[pm88]

don't have a true #1C

 

[BonkTastic]

New Jersey's center depth should be higher.

Elias is old, but he's still got it. Zajac is finally getting healthy after an Achilles injury (where have I heard that before...), Elias is Elias, and Henrique just had a 25 goal season. Plus, if they want to sacrifice their wings, they can throw one of Ruutu/Zubrus as their #4 guy, which is nice.

I don't see why the Devil's center depth is really any worse than Columbus, who is rated way higher here.
Also: you forgot David Backes in St Louis.

My List:

Pittsburgh (Crosby-Malkin-Sutter-Goc)

------------------------------------------

LA (Kopitar-Carter-Stoll-Richards)
SJS (Thornton - Couture-Pavelski-Desjardins)

-------------------------------------------

ANA (Getlzaf-Kesler-Cogliano-Thompson)
BOS (Krejci-Bergeron-Soderberg-Kelly/Campbell)
STL (Statsny-Backes-Berglund-Sobotka/Lehtera)
PHI (Giroux-Schenn-Couturier-Lecavalier)
COL (Duchene-Mackinnon-Briere-Mitchell) <---- (O'Reilly mostly plays wing)
DAL (Seguin-Spezza-Eakin-Fiddler)

-------------------------------------------

NYI (Tavares-Nielsen-Grabovski-Strome/Cizikas)
CHI (Toews-Richards-Shaw-Kruger)
Tampa (Stamkos-Filpulla/Johnson-Killorn-Boyle)
Carolina (Staal-Staal-Lindholm-McClement)

--------------------------------------------

CBJ (Johansen-Dubinsky-Anisimov-Letestu)
MIN (Koivu-Granlund-Haula-Brodziak)
NJD (Zajac-Elias-Henrique-Gionta)
DET (Datsyuk-Weiss-Sheahan-Helm) <--- huge falloff after Datsyuk

--------------------------------------------

NYR (Stepan-Brassard-Lindberg-Moore)
OTT (Turris-Legwand-Zibanejad-Smith)
MTL (Plekanec-Desharnais-Eller-Malhotra)
VAN (Sedin-Bonino-Vey-Matthias)
WSH (Backstrom-Johanssen-Laich-Beagle)
WPG (Little-Scheifele-Perrault-Slater)

---------------------------------------------

TOR (Bozak-Kadri-Santiorelli-Kontiola)
ARZ (Vermette-Gagner-Hanzal-Vitale)

------------------------------------------

EDM (NugentHopkins-Draisatl-Gordon-Arcobello)
CGY (Backlund-Monahan-Stajan-Colborne)
FLA (Barkov-Bjugstad-Bolland-Mackenzie)
NSH(Jokinen-Fisher-Jarnkrok-Cullen-Gaustad)
BUF (Ennis-Girgensons-Reinhart-McCormick)

 

[DylanSensFan]

Where does our centre depth rank compared to all 30 teams?

My category rankings:


(In no particular order in the groups)


Pittsburgh (Crosby-Malkin-Sutter-Goc)

------------------------------------------

LA (Kopitar-Carter-Stoll-Richards)
SJS (Thornton - Couture-Pavelski-Desjardins)
ANA (Getlzaf-Kesler-Cogliano-Thompson)
COL (Duchene-Mackinnon-O'Reilly-Mitchell)
DAL (Seguin-Spezza-Eakin-Fiddler)
BOS (Krejci-Bergeron-Soderberg-Campbell)

-------------------------------------------

CHI (Toews-Richards-Shaw-Kruger-Regin)
Tampa (Stamkos-Filpulla/Johnson-Killorn-Boyle)
Carolina (Staal-Staal-Lindholm-McClement)
PHI (Giroux-Schenn-Couturier-Lecavalier)
NYI (Tavares-Grabovski-Strome-Cizikas)

--------------------------------------------

CBJ (Johansen-Dubinsky-Anisimov)
MIN (Koivu-Granlund-Haula-Brodziak)
STL (Statsny-Berglund-Sobotka-Lehtera)
DET (Datsyuk - Weiss - Sheahan - Helm)

--------------------------------------------

NYR (Stepan-Brassard-Lindberg-Moore)
WPG (Little-Scheifele-Perrault-Slater)
MTL (Plekanec-Desharnais-Eller-Malhotra)
OTT (Turris-Legwand-Zibanejad-Smith)
WSH (Backstrom-Laich-Johanssen-Beagle)
VAN (Sedin-Bonino-Vey-Matthias)
TOR (Bozak-Kadri-Santiorelli-Kontiola)

---------------------------------------------

NJD (Zajac-Elias-Henrique-Gionta)
ARZ (Vermette-Gagner-Hanzal-Vitale)

------------------------------------------

EDM (Nugent-Hopkins-Draisatl-Gordon-Arcobello)
NSH(Jokinen-Fisher-Jarnkrok-Cullen)
CGY (Backlund-Monahan-Stajan-Colborne)
BUF (Ennis-Girgensons-Reinhart-McCormick)
FLA (Barkov-Bjugstad-Bolland-Mackenzie)

In red.

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

When's the last time Elias has even played C. Isn't he almost always LW.

Pretty sure Henrique and Zajac are their 1/2.

 

[Hemmer Time]

When's the last time Elias has even played C. Isn't he almost always LW.

Pretty sure Henrique and Zajac are their 1/2.

Sorry, I used that depth chart from another website since I'm not that familiar with NJD's line-up.

It's also probably why I have them ranked lower than they should be, and its just ignorance on my part.

 

[Hemmer Time]

New Jersey's center depth should be higher.

Elias is old, but he's still got it. Zajac is finally getting healthy after an Achilles injury (where have I heard that before...), Elias is Elias, and Henrique just had a 25 goal season. Plus, if they want to sacrifice their wings, they can throw one of Ruutu/Zubrus as their #4 guy, which is nice.

I don't see why the Devil's center depth is really any worse than Columbus, who is rated way higher here.
Also: you forgot David Backes in St Louis.

My List:

Pittsburgh (Crosby-Malkin-Sutter-Goc)

------------------------------------------

LA (Kopitar-Carter-Stoll-Richards)
SJS (Thornton - Couture-Pavelski-Desjardins)

-------------------------------------------

COL (Duchene-Mackinnon-O'Reilly-Mitchell)
ANA (Getlzaf-Kesler-Cogliano-Thompson)
BOS (Krejci-Bergeron-Soderberg-Kelly/Campbell)
STL (Statsny-Backes-Berglund-Sobotka/Lehtera)
PHI (Giroux-Schenn-Couturier-Lecavalier)
DAL (Seguin-Spezza-Eakin-Fiddler)

-------------------------------------------

NYI (Tavares-Nielsen-Grabovski-Strome/Cizikas)
CHI (Toews-Richards-Shaw-Kruger)
Tampa (Stamkos-Filpulla/Johnson-Killorn-Boyle)
Carolina (Staal-Staal-Lindholm-McClement)

--------------------------------------------

CBJ (Johansen-Dubinsky-Anisimov-Letestu)
MIN (Koivu-Granlund-Haula-Brodziak)
NJD (Zajac-Elias-Henrique-Gionta)
DET (Datsyuk-Weiss-Sheahan-Helm) <--- absolute crap after Datsyuk

--------------------------------------------

NYR (Stepan-Brassard-Lindberg-Moore)
OTT (Turris-Legwand-Zibanejad-Smith)
MTL (Plekanec-Desharnais-Eller-Malhotra)
VAN (Sedin-Bonino-Vey-Matthias)
WSH (Backstrom-Johanssen-Laich-Beagle)
WPG (Little-Scheifele-Perrault-Slater)

---------------------------------------------

TOR (Bozak-Kadri-Santiorelli-Kontiola)
ARZ (Vermette-Gagner-Hanzal-Vitale)

------------------------------------------

EDM (NugentHopkins-Draisatl-Gordon-Arcobello)
CGY (Backlund-Monahan-Stajan-Colborne)
FLA (Barkov-Bjugstad-Bolland-Mackenzie)
NSH(Jokinen-Fisher-Jarnkrok-Cullen-Gaustad)
BUF (Ennis-Girgensons-Reinhart-McCormick)

I like that list, it makes a lot of sense and NJD is probably rated wrong on mine. However, regarding STL and Backes, their GM has stated that to start the season Backes will move to the wing (which I can't fathom why since it makes their centre depth bad and Backes is good at C), but that's also why I have them rated lower, since a Statsny-Berglund punch isn't inspiring.

IMO, if I was the Blues GM, I would have:

Steen - Backes - Oshie
Schwartz - Statsny - Tarasenko
Berglund - Sobotka - xx
xx - Lehtora xx

 

[BonkTastic]

When's the last time Elias has even played C. Isn't he almost always LW.

Pretty sure Henrique and Zajac are their 1/2.

Elias had the 3rd most faceoff attempts for New Jersey last year, and was their top faceoff guy in 2011-12.

He's a Center in my eyes. A center who occasionally also plays the wing.

 

[Rumcajs]

I counted 8 meaning we are ranked 22.

My list and reasonings:

WPG (Little-Scheifele-Perrault-Slater) === we have better overall depth
TOR (Bozak-Kadri-Santiorelli-Kontiola) === better depth and number one center
ARZ (Vermette-Gagner-Hanzal-Vitale) === better depth up top and at the 4 spot
EDM (NugentHopkins-Draisatl-Gordon-Arcobello) === more experienced players with better defensive awareness
CGY (Backlund-Monahan-Stajan-Colborne) === likewise as edmonton
FLA (Barkov-Bjugstad-Bolland-Mackenzie) === likewise aside from Bolland
NSH(Jokinen-Fisher-Jarnkrok-Cullen-Gaustad) === slight edge to ottawa since we have a number one guy
BUF (Ennis-Girgensons-Reinhart-McCormick) === better depth all around

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

Elias had the 3rd most faceoff attempts for New Jersey last year, and was their top faceoff guy in 2011-12.

He's a Center in my eyes. A center who occasionally also plays the wing.

Fascinating. I think they started utilizing him as center more often past couple years it seems.

 

[Xspyrit]

My answer is underrated.

3 guys capable of putting + 50 pts seasons, and Turris + 60 pts.

Who knows about Zibanejad? At 20-21 y/o, he's already a 40 pts scorer. He will breakout, but when exactly? Could be this season.

I'd say middle of the pack. I only see 10 teams that clearly have better center depth (we're not talking about N.1 center)

Sorry, I used that depth chart from another website since I'm not that familiar with NJD's line-up.

It's also probably why I have them ranked lower than they should be, and its just ignorance on my part.

/thread

 

[Micklebot]

My answer is underrated.

3 guys capable of putting + 50 pts seasons, and Turris + 60 pts.

Who knows about Zibanejad? At 20-121 y/o, he's already a 40 pts scorer. He will breakout, but when exactly? Could be this season.

I'd say middle of the pack. I only see 10 teams that clearly have better center depth (we're not talking about N.1 center)



/thread

I really think expecting Zibanejad to play until he's 121 years old is setting yourself up for disapointment.

 

[Xspyrit]

I really think expecting Zibanejad to play until he's 121 years old is setting yourself up for disapointment.

oops lol, where's the auto-correct?

 

[insomniac]

C2 - Turris
C2 - Zibanejad
C4 - Legwand
C4 - Smith

 

[Micklebot]

C2 - Turris
C2 - Zibanejad
C4 - Legwand
C4 - Smith

In what world is a center that is solid defensively and put up 51 pts a 4th line center?

The guy signed with us to be a top 6 player, I imagine that he'll be given the chance, and Zibanejad will have to beat him out rather than just be handed the role.

 

[Ice-Tray]

In what world is a center that is solid defensively and put up 51 pts a 4th line center?

The guy signed with us to be a top 6 player, I imagine that he'll be given the chance, and Zibanejad will have to beat him out rather than just be handed the role.

Well put.

In my eyes we have:

2 defensive minded second line centres
1 rookie 3rd line centre (potential to be much more)
1 4th line defensive centre.

All 4 are good in their roles, but all 4 are more on the defensive side than offensive.

As it stands now, we have defensive centre depth that is quite good, but have pretty poor offensive centre depth. This can be mitigated by adding offensive minded wingers, so I'm not too concerned yet, especially since we have young offensively gifted wingers in the system.

50-60 points is not bad production, and when coupled with solid defence, it's a recipe for a great 2 way pivot, however, in order to challenge for a cup we will need to add some offensive pressure somewhere on the roster. A guy that many of you hate, a guy that pushes the offense and thinks scoring first rather than backchecking.

We need a few of these guys on the roster, and have room on the wings for them as it stands.

In a perfect world we would add another better centre, bump smith out and have 4 real lines to run. Without top end talent down the centre we will need to be able to run 4 lines at teams in waves.

 

[topshelf15]

My answer is underrated.

3 guys capable of putting + 50 pts seasons, and Turris + 60 pts.

Who knows about Zibanejad? At 20-21 y/o, he's already a 40 pts scorer. He will breakout, but when exactly? Could be this season.

I'd say middle of the pack. I only see 10 teams that clearly have better center depth (we're not talking about N.1 center)



/thread

Agreed add in some good looking young wingers,in Stone,Lazar and maybe puemple.And we are no worse than most in the east offensively,everybody is using kids in their top 9 .And ours are just as good imho

 

[Lenny the Lynx]

Please change title to "How confident are you in our center depth?"

 

[blahblah3]

Probably the best in the league. Not even kidding.

 

[Mr Invidious]

Probably the best in the league. Not even kidding.

You say "not even kidding" but one can only assume that you're kidding about not kidding.

Kyle Turris is our #1 C. I love the guy and I think he'll be a staple on this team for years to come, but there are probably 15-20 other teams with better options on their 1st line.

Legwand is an average #2/#3 hybrid at his age.

Zibanejad hasn't proved to be a legitimate #2 C (yet).

Zack Smith is a decent bottom 6 C who had a rough season last season.

Can I ask why you believe we have the best center group in the league?