What was wrong with JVR at center?

[Warden of the North]

Face offs were another issue, IIRC.

 

[legendinblue]

He just did not look good as far as I remember.

 

[Liminality]

To be a centre you need to drive the play imo. JVR's at his best when he's causing havoc in front of the net and drives the net, getting into the open slots joins and when he is in on the rush. Pretty sure it exposed his weaknesses a lot more than on the wing. He wasn't great at face offs from what I remember, since he's along the boards and in front of the net he's not in a great position to support his other line mates, thought his defensive awareness wasn't up to par also.

Really interested with how Babcock will utilize him and what kind of effects he'll have on JVR's game. (If he's not traded by the start of the season)

 

[nuck]

He was not used as a center at all in Philly and only took about 200 faceoffs in three years as a Leaf compared to 1775 for Bozak last year alone so that shows how much of a shot he received. He was drafted as a LW. You will see him described as "forward" as an amateur but I don't think he spent much time at C in the years right before his draft. Richards, Carter, Briere and Giroux were all centers in Philly when he got there so not much motivation to try him out there. It would be a real project to convert him but it might be possible. Not sure they want to mess around with that when they have a few natural centers under contract but if Boz is moved, who knows? It isn't like Winnik or Koma are top 6 players but are Kadri and Holland that bad?

 

[Anthrax442]

In my eyes he was thrown to the wolves, he was given a role and then they didn't protect him from the media that grilled him after each game, no surprised he couldn't do it, the pressure on him must have been insane. I wouldn't mind them trying it again, but they need to clearly define the timeframe for this experiment and keep the vultures away from him.

 

[Leafidelity]

I don't think taking away one of his strongest skills (positioning in front of the net) is a great idea.

 

[deletethis]

He seems comfortable on the wing but it could certainly be tried. I think what looks like passable defensive effort on the left wing would seem insufficient as a center.

It's all moot anyways. I keep hearing that he'll probably hold his stick upside down and soil his pants without Kessel on his line. We might as well give up in advance and not try anything.

 

[Kyle93]

he played center, when i swear he was always playing wing with kessel and bozak

It was in 2013-14. We were down a few centres. Bozak was injured,
Bolland was injured, Kadri had just been suspended. It was JVR-McClement-Smith-Carrick or something like that for a couple of weeks until Nonis got the Holland deal done.