Why not Huberdeau at center?

[jrockett1096]

Though Huberdeau won the Calder playing at left wing I just think with his vision, awareness and puck handling abilities he should be playing at center in more open ice and not having to be working in the corners as much which is not a real strength for him with his frame. You can see opposing teams have a better read on Huberdeau this year playing him very physical and wearing him down at the wing and he never plays in space which I think is where is strength lies. His creativity is stifled at wing. I know a few of you would say defensively he would have more responsiblity and he's not really that great of a defensive forward to be now covering for pinching defenseman and such but what do we have to lose to try? We are basically tanking so I'd rather he learn on the job in this wasted season so next year he has some NHL experience at it and we can sign/trade for wingers around our blue chip guys.

The move would move Barkov at 2nd line center and Bjugstad at 3rd and move Matthias to 4th line where he belongs and its frees us to move Goc in a trade who is one of the few Panthers of value who can get us something. With this team definetely not going anywhere there is no reason not to experiment with anything that can possibly develop our players better and besides if someone one is going to get crushed in the corners, I'd rather see Versteeg take that abuse daily rather than Huberdeau. Thoughts?

Click to read more...

 

[gudzilla]

not big enough to be a center and not defensively sound enough to justify pushing down bjugstad and barkov

 

[Howboutthempanthers]

I think he's fine. No need to start moving him around.

 

[Zamuz]

not big enough to be a center

Since when did size matter when playing center?
Also Hubs isn't that small at 6'1.

 

[gudzilla]

Since when did size matter when playing center?
Also Hubs isn't that small at 6'1.

when you have bjugstad and barkov playing well enough, i think you can say that justifies the lack of size

and huberdeau is pretty skinny, even if he bulked up. krys barch is 6'1 and 240...

huberdeau works fine as winger

 

[Haj]

He's fine at winger. I want to say he needs to make quicker decisions with the puck, but his hockey sense is pretty good.

 

[EnforceTheLaus]

We have the luxury of having two guys who are: bigger, better defensively, good at face offs. Hubey makes more sense at wing.

 

[Killerinstinct]

Nice if he could play center, but i think we should trade for a center someone like Kulikov and add 1st.

 

[mbitonti]

1. He's skinny and would get pushed around even more so at center

2. Doesn't make sense for the future anyway: Bjugs and Barky appear locked to be our 1-2 punch down the middle for the foreseeable future, no sense in pushing them all down to the second/third line center role

3. We need wings

4. Huby hasn't played poorly at wing. Defenses constantly double team him because he's sick with the puck in open space and they know this. He may have been a bit streaky at times this season so far, possibly hitting the alleged "sophomore slump", but I think he's still be one of our better players

 

[RainingRats]

Probably because Barkov and Bjugstad will be more effective two way players when compared to Hubs. Hubs may produce slightly more offensively as a center but he'll give up that gain on the defensive side of things.

 

[PanthersHockey1]

He needs to get going quickly regardless of the position he needs to simplify his game, stop learning form versteeg, and work harder in the dirty areas he has been invisible for too long.

 

[Chino Oscar]

He needs to get going quickly regardless of the position he needs to simplify his game, stop learning form versteeg, and work harder in the dirty areas he has been invisible for too long.

Yeah, what does this 20-year old kid think he is doing.. he is not scoring every single game! Unacceptable, he won the Calder last year, he should be leading the league in scoring!

 

[PanthersHockey1]

Yeah, what does this 20-year old kid think he is doing.. he is not scoring every single game! Unacceptable, he won the Calder last year, he should be leading the league in scoring!

wasnt meant to come off as hyperbole but surely somewhere between leading the league in scoring and the production he has given us this season-we need more if we hope to break what will be a 10 game losing streak after tonight.