Stephen
Moderator
- Feb 28, 2002
- 78,705
- 53,220
Will the Leafs ever find an elite number one center? It seems like in the modern era, the Leafs have largely been a respectable to good team whenever we've had number one center to hitch our fortunes to. Sittler in the 70s, Gilmour in the mid 90s, Sundin in the late 90s and early 2000s, with a few down years here and there, but with a great center in tow, it was relatively easy to whip things in shape.
Its been a few years since we lost Sundin in 2008 and we still don't have a very good idea of who we can bring in to fill the void. I just wanted to throw together a list of other teams and their searches for number one center over the past couple of decades to get a sense of how long or hard it is to get one, and the results are kind of depressing:
Anaheim - before Ryan Getzlaf, they had a couple of productive years if Andy McDonald, and before him, the only star center the Ducks had was a washed up Sergei Fedorov, whom was acquired in 2003, 10 years after the franchise was founded.
Buffalo - They still don't really have an answer for having lost Pat Lafontaine back in 1996 other than that one great year in 2007 when Briere (and Drury) were lighting the league on fire.
Calgary - Probably haven't had a legitimate number one center since Joe Nieuwendyk in the mid 90s, though they've had random big years from Mike Cammalleri.
Columbus - never really had one
Chicago - before Jonathan Toews emerged in the late 2000s, you're probably looking at Jeremy Roenick as their last legitimate elite first line centerman. I'm not counting guys like Alexei Zhamnov and Steve Sullivan.
Edmonton - assuming they have one now in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the last time they had a great center was Doug Weight in 2000-01.
Florida - have they ever had a great center?
Los Angeles - before Anze Kopitar broke through in the late 2000s, you had a couple of years of Jason Allison in the early 2000s, and then you'd have to go back to Wayne Gretzky, who left in 1996.
Montreal - I'm not even sure if Saku Koivu fits as a great number one center. The last statistically excellent center in Montreal was Pierre Turgeon in 1997...
Nashville - never
Islanders - before Tavares got there, the closest thing you had was one productive year out of Alexei Yashin, and before that, Pierre Turgeon in 1994.
Rangers - before the great name acquisition in Brad Richards, you're kind of looking at a random assortment of former superstars, productive veterans and kind of washed up guys like Lindros, Drury, Gomez, Nylander. You'd have to go back to prime Messier days in the mid 90s to find an elite number one center here.
Phoenix - maybe Jeremy Roenick dating to the early 2000s, but he wasn't as elite as he was with Chicago in the early 90s, before that, Dale Hawerchuk, 1990.
St. Louis - depending on your definition, you might be going back to Adam Oates/Pierre Turgeon/Doug Weight, probably not going to count a few months of Wayne Gretzky.
Vancouver - before Henrik Sedin, you're probably picking through names like Linden, Cassels, Ronning, Morrison, Messier (old), Nedved, who don't really count.
Washington - before Nicklas Backstrom, probably a veteran Adam Oates in the early 2000s.
Anyway, in summary, this is a position that urgently needs to be filled. Hopefully there's some draft or UFA bounty coming up ahead soon, because it can be a long process to get that kind of player on your team...
Its been a few years since we lost Sundin in 2008 and we still don't have a very good idea of who we can bring in to fill the void. I just wanted to throw together a list of other teams and their searches for number one center over the past couple of decades to get a sense of how long or hard it is to get one, and the results are kind of depressing:
Anaheim - before Ryan Getzlaf, they had a couple of productive years if Andy McDonald, and before him, the only star center the Ducks had was a washed up Sergei Fedorov, whom was acquired in 2003, 10 years after the franchise was founded.
Buffalo - They still don't really have an answer for having lost Pat Lafontaine back in 1996 other than that one great year in 2007 when Briere (and Drury) were lighting the league on fire.
Calgary - Probably haven't had a legitimate number one center since Joe Nieuwendyk in the mid 90s, though they've had random big years from Mike Cammalleri.
Columbus - never really had one
Chicago - before Jonathan Toews emerged in the late 2000s, you're probably looking at Jeremy Roenick as their last legitimate elite first line centerman. I'm not counting guys like Alexei Zhamnov and Steve Sullivan.
Edmonton - assuming they have one now in Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the last time they had a great center was Doug Weight in 2000-01.
Florida - have they ever had a great center?
Los Angeles - before Anze Kopitar broke through in the late 2000s, you had a couple of years of Jason Allison in the early 2000s, and then you'd have to go back to Wayne Gretzky, who left in 1996.
Montreal - I'm not even sure if Saku Koivu fits as a great number one center. The last statistically excellent center in Montreal was Pierre Turgeon in 1997...
Nashville - never
Islanders - before Tavares got there, the closest thing you had was one productive year out of Alexei Yashin, and before that, Pierre Turgeon in 1994.
Rangers - before the great name acquisition in Brad Richards, you're kind of looking at a random assortment of former superstars, productive veterans and kind of washed up guys like Lindros, Drury, Gomez, Nylander. You'd have to go back to prime Messier days in the mid 90s to find an elite number one center here.
Phoenix - maybe Jeremy Roenick dating to the early 2000s, but he wasn't as elite as he was with Chicago in the early 90s, before that, Dale Hawerchuk, 1990.
St. Louis - depending on your definition, you might be going back to Adam Oates/Pierre Turgeon/Doug Weight, probably not going to count a few months of Wayne Gretzky.
Vancouver - before Henrik Sedin, you're probably picking through names like Linden, Cassels, Ronning, Morrison, Messier (old), Nedved, who don't really count.
Washington - before Nicklas Backstrom, probably a veteran Adam Oates in the early 2000s.
Anyway, in summary, this is a position that urgently needs to be filled. Hopefully there's some draft or UFA bounty coming up ahead soon, because it can be a long process to get that kind of player on your team...
