If there is one position that is key to any hockey team it is center. Of course, goalies are crucial and a stud blueliner is essential to any winning team, but all great teams have been built around top centers. From Steven Stamkos and Brayden Point to Ryan O’Reilly to Evgeni Kuzentsov and Niklas Backstrom to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, all recent Cup winners have had stud centers. Looking further back, do we need to bring up Wayne Gretzky, Bryan Trottier, Jean Beliveau et al? It took the arrival of Mark Messier to get the New York Rangers over the hump.
Domination of centers extends to the NHL Entry Draft. 25 centers have been picked first overall. How have the rest of the positions fared? There have been 15 defensemen, eight left wingers, eight right wingers and only three goalies. That’s 42% of all of the first rounders since the first draft in 1963.
It’s no mystery, great hockey teams are built starting at center.
This year’s version of the New York Rangers is in pretty good shape at center on their top two lines with Mika Zibanejad and Ryan Strome. After that, the situation is pretty bleak and that doesn’t apply just to the Blueshirts’ NHL roster, it’s organization-wide. How on earth did the Rangers get into this situation?