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Second Line Centre Options By Ryan Snow |
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In my previous article I talked about certain players the Montréal Canadiens should target during the off-season. In this article I want to focus specifically on which player the habs should target for the second line centre vacancy.
I will begin with a player I mentioned in my previous article, Ryan O’Reilly. I won’t repeat myself too much with what I already wrote but I think he would be a good fit. He’s a face-off wizard, plays good D, is natural leader and he puts up points. Also he has an affordable salary at 4.5 million. The downside is he is 34 years of age.
The next player who really impressed me this year was Ryan Donato. He seems to have come into his own this year with 31 goals and 31 assists and he is only 29 years of age. I will admit it has taken him time to come into his own but when I watched some Chicago games this year I noticed him on the ice every shift. He has good vision good speed and is 6 foot tall which is something the habs need. The one downside is that he needs to improve his face off win percentage from 44%.
Now for a crazy idea but what about Elias Pettersson? Now I will admit that this is a scary thought as he makes $11 million for the next seven years and he may never re-capture his form. Furthermore at times he can be disengaged physically and play the perimeter and we all know how St. Louis does not want any passengers. However it would give us two solid offensive lines. I would be wary of this one as the money and term is quite a bit, but it’s undeniable it would give the Habs a good one to punch down the middle. However I doubt we want to get into that type of contract as it would limit the habs cap flexibility for years to come.
Finally there is Marco Rossi. I’ll admit I haven’t seen him play often this year as I’ve only watched three Minnesota wild games but from what I saw he is a very good player. He plays a very smart game and I really like how he sees the ice in the offensive zone. Furthermore he has a sound defensive game which should fit in nicely with the system established by St. Louis. The only downside I see is his size at 5’9. He’s good at finding the free ice but my concern lies when the playoffs begin and the physicality cranks up a notch.
I avoided mentioning John Tavares, Sam Bennett, Sidney Crosby as I really don’t see them ever coming to Montreal. Also , I don’t see Duchene as a fit for the Habs system.
That’s it for me, go oilers! Also I would really love to interact with you all on the forum but there’s a glitch with the system and I can’t seem to get my account set up. Hopefully that’s resolved soon !
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