Well in canada it has been that way since I was a kid. Maybe other countries have different priorities. I guess we will let the results speak for themselves....
But sure I can agree that it may be “blown out of proportion” but then that comes down to how subjectively big one thinks the difference is.
When the leafs had Kessel, no one thought that bozak was better. Regardless c are more valuable. There are twice as many wingers as c. And when you look at all the best players it sure isn’t 2:1 wingers. It’s probably the other way. Of course there are players like prime ovy who was a one man wrecking crew. He routinely went through the other team and scored. Didn’t matter who his line mates were. He was the best player in the game as a winger some seasons then. Even if he scores 60 next year he won’t be. He is a trigger man now.
Major points.
1.) pretty much every player agrees c is more important.
2.)Tons of players who play c can be good wingers, very few can make the transition the other way. Wheeler is the first I have seen in forever.
3.) when there are super teams, the inferior player slides to the wing ....... Crosby doesn’t go to the wing ever. Matthews went to mcdavid s wing
4.) when players are new or old they play wing. Marleau shifted to the wing and is still playing. HE wouldn’t make it as a long term c now.
5.) many coaches trust a player at wing but not C. No coaches don’t trust the C to be a winger.
I think Kessel doesn't really fit the criteria of a true franchise winger. Sure he's had his moments and been crazy in the playoffs since traded to Pens. Also as for there being twice more winger than centers, I don't really think the numbers make any difference in terms of what we're discussing. From the recent years I can't think of only so many wingers who would fit the criteria of being absolute top end rainmakers. If we take a peak into the short dynasty of the Hawks, Kane was absolutely instrumental bringing home those trophies and I would even argue he was more important than Toews (who nowadays is barely a shadow of his prime). He was the key piece who changed the course of the franchise and eventually became a face of it. Now when you think about it, I truly cannot think of all that many wingers who were made of the same (or even higher) caliper from the recent past or from this century. Jagr (okay he's an artefact but still refusing to retire), Ovechkin and maybe Kovalchuk - the list grows pretty thin which brings us back to the "amount of wingers vs centers", because the number doesn't matter, it's about what these guys can do on the ice and that is what truly determines their value (and naturally salary). Of course not all of them have necessarily even have Stanley cup rings. Hockey is a team sport and what kind of organizations some of these guys have had or have, it's almost entirely out of their hands. For instance, Ovy has never held the trophy, but has he had the kind of support cast needed to go deep? That can be argued.
In the end, whether you are a center or a winger, the merits go depending what you achieve. As for center taking face offs and having more responsibilities behind own blue line, that is true, but wingers don't get any get-out-of-jail-cards either and I can remember certain Jere Lehtinen who was the best defensive forward in the league for quite some time. I think we've seen a bit of transformation in terms of responsibilities over the course of time and today even the soon to be superstars are made to learn and adapt responsibilities at both zones and floating just doesn't get overlooked as much as it did in the past, goal scoring wingers included.
Anyhow, as I stated earlier I would rather have the BPA than make a pick based on position. Of course that's only my personal opinion. In the NHL the organizations are obliged to look even deeper, consider the needs and take everything else into account when they make draft picks for instance.
While reading what you said I started to wonder that perhaps it's the Canadian hockey culture that had something to do with the most talented kids being coached to become centers instead of wingers or do you think there's a connection? Thinking about Gretzky, Lemieux and even some "lesser" greats like Sakic, Yzerman, Messier, the list just gets pretty damn long and I'd guess there are more of these "legends" who played C instead of W or possibly just my mind and memory playing tricks and forgetting about all the names from the past.
