Prior to the give-and-go goal, he made an extremely solid outlet pass on his backhand to Sid to gain zone entry. That outlet was a main part of getting offensive zone time.
The only thing I'll disagree with you is that NHLers definitely have a preference. Example - Iginla. So while an NHLer at time will say it doesn't matter, they definitely have a preference. Heck, some even like playing the offwing. It really just depends on what they feel comfortable with.
Oh, I'm not even arguing guys have preferences, I'm just arguing that it shouldn't be a surprise that a skilled player can play his off wing well, and in fact prefer it. It seems like over the last few years there is a narrative around here that left handed guys need to be on LW and right handed guys need to be on RW... that is more of a coach's driven decision than players preferring to be played there.
When Guenztel was moved to RW in practice a number of people flipped out and I kind of rolled my eyes and figured they would see for themselves how well he can play RW, so why argue over it.
I suspect Guenztel is most comfortable as a pivot, but we aren't privy to that info or which side he prefers when he's out at wing. All we know is the org had a dearth of skilled LWs, so he has been playing that side since he came into the org last spring.
With Crosby apparently unhappy with Hornqvist on his RW, there is an opening now for Guenztel.
I always played my off-wing, but I wasn't playing in the NHL where I had a split second to make a decision. I liked being able to really lean into one timers, and just always felt more comfortable having more options to shoot at, because, let's face it, picking an opposite corner on your natural side takes a bomb of a shot. I can see why it would be off-putting, but I honestly thing Guentzel at this early stage in his career would benefit greatly getting acquainted to both sides. I think he is so good at both the passing and shooting facets of the game, that he will just morph into a different player. Last night, you can tell her was about a split second off. He wouldn't have seen the chances he did last night on the LW though. It's really a matter of him getting his hands a split second faster to turn those pucks over quicker.
I honestly hated my natural side because there were so many advantages to being on my off-wing.
We may have had a little more time at the levels we played to break the puck out, but highly skilled NHLers can handle that much like Jagr, Kovy, Malkin, Lemieux, etc could playing their off-wings.
Again every player is different though, but I think people need to understand that guys shouldn't be pigeonholed into a wing because of the hand they shoot with.
"Omigawdbbq Sullivan is playing Guenztel on RW - that fool done lost his mind!!"
Uh... ok...
