I'm really hoping for a big growth in Mitts' game for next season, but a big growth can happen and still leave him shy of being a 2C for next year, and a big growth might also not quite happen this offseason. Realistically, looking at his D+1 and D+2 years, his path looks more like that of a Tyson Jost than a Kyle Connor/Brock Boeser/Clayton Keller. So I really expect a good NHL center addition in the next 9 months. A guy you can call a top 6 center without people rolling their eyes. I think it's necessary even if you think the world of Mittelstadt. Because if we aren't about getting better for a playoff run this spring, we absolutely HAVE to be about giving Jack, Sam, Skinner, Risto, Dahlin and co the appropriate tools to get there next season. And the current center landscape of the franchise is far, far short of acceptable with that goal in mind.
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As for average shot distance, I think there's more at play than "getting to the net." We struggle with being available in that space, but just as often the problem is completely over-shooting rebounds and passes and mistakes, driving the net so hard that we miss that stuff. I think the real underlying issue is that every line sans the Eichel line has some crippling combination of no hands (Kyle, Larry/Zemgus, Sobotka, sometimes Sheary), no vision (Kyle, Larry/Zemgus, Tage), no shot (Sobotka etc) and no strength to hold their ground in a position to make plays (Sobotka, Tage, Casey). So they get the puck in the offensive zone, and they try to get to the net, but Kyle's pass hits a shin-pad or rolls off his stick before he even makes it. Tage hits a shin pad or can't quite see the seam to either sit in or pass in, Larry and Zemgus don't have the hands to get tough, off-angle shots on the goalie, and Sobotka can't do anything (I spent a ~15 game stretch specifically watching for Sobotka positive offensive plays that either were shots on goal, or passes to teammates who could shoot, and saw ZERO in that span, including two breakaways he was caught on/missed the net, and countless shots from right in front of or next to the goal that inexplicably dribbled wide, were blocked, or never touched the goalie).
Watch what Matthews and Tavares do to create space in dangerous areas, use positioning to clear a stick lane so they can get shots off, and take shots off with their hands and arms oriented all over the place to make it work. Watch how their wingers can use their legs and vision to open lanes to those guys simultaneously. There is at most 1 guy on our each bottom 3 line that can do one of these things efficiently, but the rest are bad at all of them, so the positive offensive play to dangerous areas is nonexistent for us, and we take a lot of muffin shots from far away instead because Pominville knows better to at least do that than try to hopelessly complete a pass that'll just turn the puck over one way or another.
So as long as we keep trotting out Pominville and Okposo (we will not be serious about winning and scoring while we put both of these guys out there at the same time, and anything higher than Okposo's current role for either guy) and Sobotka and Tage etc. all at once, we will not win because we will not get consistent depth scoring.