Who goes back to Centre?

[Muffin]

MacKinnon or O'Reilly? Assuming O'Reilly plays for the Avs next season of course.

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[Gabe the Babe]

Briere................

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

MacKinnon. O'Reilly will be moved permanently to wing,.

 

[18Mike18]

You need a C who plays a good two way game. that is only O'Reilly now.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

MacKinnon, but I imagine ROR will see some time at center at various points.

It's the Duchene/MacKinnon show down the middle for the next 10 years now.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Both of them will. Avs will try MacKinnon first, then need to move O'Reilly there.

 

[Hasbro]

I like Mac streaking down the wing.

We spell er here too.

 

[Muffin]

I just realized we can try a Tanguay-O'Reilly-Iginla line, probably what the Flames would've tried if their offersheet worked

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I think O'Reilly and Mackinnon will split time. I think Tanguay and Iginla will be playing with Dutchy.

 

[AvsRobin]

I think MacKinnon.

Hoping with all my heart Ryan.

 

[MvpKinnon]

MacKinnon.

Too soon to tell, though. I feel like we have another move coming soon.

 

[hawk30]

Too bad this isn't like 2005 or so. A Tanguay-Briere-Iginla line would be pretty sick.

 

[AvsRobin]

MacKinnon.

Too soon to tell, though. I feel like we have another move coming soon.

Hope not. A Roy trade usually means we are getting weaker.

 

[tigervixxxen]

MacKinnon easily. He's a franchise cornerstone center. That's the future and they've moved to it today.

 

[Bonzai12]

Duchene + ROR and Iginla + Mac

 

[ORLY]

Well, trade ROR because he's gonna want to play Center. Staz partly left because he felt threatened that he might be phased out. Before we lose him for nothing.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

MacK, of course.

O'Reilly - Duchene - Iginla
Landeskog - MacKinnon - Tanguay

 

[Frenchy]

MacK, of course.

O'Reilly - Duchene - Iginla
Landeskog - MacKinnon - Tanguay

can we pencil O'Reilly on LW from now on , or is he still thinking about playing center ?

 

[nightonthesun]

MacKinnon easily. He's a franchise cornerstone center. That's the future and they've moved to it today.

Echo. ROR can very capably handle the job if it doesn't work out, but I get the feeling this is where we're starting. It'd be a shame to split him from Dutchy. I also wonder if Mac, now at C, will pull a Foppa and destroy with extreme prejudice the notion of a sophomore slump.

 

[Nihiliste]

Too bad this isn't like 2005 or so. A Tanguay-Briere-Iginla line would be pretty sick.

Yeah we're about 5-10 years too late on these signings.

 

[Tommy Shelby]

ROR-Dutchy-Landy
Tangs-MacK-Iggy

Also, Briere will be the 3C. He's most effective down the middle and Roy will soon find that out, if he hasn't already.

Bottom-6:

McGinn-Briere-Talbot
McLeod-Mitchell-Winchester
Bordy

I really like the look of that 4th line A LOT more than McLeod-Cliche-Bordy.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

RoR and Duchene compliment each other so well. I would hate to see them get split up.

Have MacK center the 2nd line.

With our system, and wingers, we don't need a shut down C. It's more about the line than the guy centering it on defense, IMO. And we got some solid wingers to help hide the C's defensive lapses. RoR is pretty freaking close to the best of the league and Lando is not far behind. Iginla is smart, plays hard in all the areas of the ice and is hatd to score against. Tanguay actually has a lot of the same characteristics as Staz- positionally sound, smart stick placement, aware of what is happening around him.

 

[R S]

So who matches up against the Backes, Kesler, Thornton, Stastny, Spezza, Toews, Benn, Getzlaf, Sedin type guys who are in the conference these days?

Stastny did all the heavy lifting.

I can see Roy wanting MacKinnon in the middle, and I agree he should be their going forward, but who gets relied on to try and play defence against the horses who are in our conference?

 

[RoyIsALegend]

So who matches up against the Backes, Kesler, Thornton, Stastny, Spezza, Toews, Benn, Getzlaf, Sedin type guys who are in the conference these days?

Stastny did all the heavy lifting.

I can see Roy wanting MacKinnon in the middle, and I agree he should be their going forward, but who gets relied on to try and play defence against the horses who are in our conference?

This cold-blooded killer, of course.

 

[dwkdnvr]

So who matches up against the Backes, Kesler, Thornton, Stastny, Spezza, Toews, Benn, Getzlaf, Sedin type guys who are in the conference these days?

Stastny did all the heavy lifting.

I can see Roy wanting MacKinnon in the middle, and I agree he should be their going forward, but who gets relied on to try and play defence against the horses who are in our conference?

This is obviously going to be the interesting question in the evolution of our centers going forward. I definitely think MacK will start out as C, but I think to start you'll see one of 2 things
- Duchene/ROR matching up with the top lines, with ROR rotating over to handle most of the D responsibilities
- Juggling lines to get ROR out at C in certain situations.

Ultimately, our success will depend to a degree on "the best D being a good O" as far as our C matchups are concerned since neither Duchene nor MacK are classic 2-way centers. Hopefully, we can eventually get a more conventional shut-down 3rd line, but that's not going to happen this year.