Diehard1 wrote:I'm happy with the Vey pickup so far. Figure he will fill a Wellwood role, 2nd/3rd line centre for the most part who can play up and down the lineup. Also pretty soft and iffy defensively. That's a good pickup for a low 2nd in an average draft.
The team really seems to need somebody with Horvat's skillset - who can win a key faceoff and check opposing centres. he's too young for the role right now but hopefully can grow into it.
The offence has been solid do far but the D is a tire fire - blown coverages and odd man rushes all over the place. Makes for very entertaining hockey but a tough way to win enough games to make the playoffs.
We potentially (and quite possibly) have a problem with too many centers.herb wrote:I could see Matthias being the odd man out if Horvat acquits himself well.
Our first line center is Hank. Then we got 3 center positions and 4 guys that can do the job. So something has got to give.
Shawn Matthias is our biggest center at 26 years old, 6'4, 223 lbs. He doesn't have the best hands but he's quite tough to handle and looks to be improving every single game. Unfortunately he's not fast enough to be on either the 2nd or 3rd line but does an adequate job (so far) centering the 4th.
Linden Vey is, as Diehard1 puts it, a Kyle Wellwood type of player. Maybe not as soft as Wellwood (time will tell) but he's not a physical shut down guy that'll hound opposing players into making mistakes. (In fact, Bonino is probably better suited as our 3rd line center purely based on physical attributes). So the Kings also see this which is why they opted to trade him away for a 2nd. We've already talked about Vey's positive attributes in the other thread.
Nick Bonino is pretty much a shoe in for either the 2nd or 3rd line center position. From what I've seen, he's a smart player that sees the ice very well. He's more physical then Vey but less physical than Kesler (which is a plus considering how many injuries Kes has gotten due to his style of play).
And then there's Bo Horvat who I watched for 5 minutes and then he got injured so I have no comment.
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So something's got to give here. Everyone here is saying that Horvat is ready for prime time. If he is and Bonino is here to stay, then its Vey or Matthias. Vey has plenty of upside and lot of growing to do but Kyle Wellwood...
. And Matthias... well.. you can't teach a player to be 6'4. Can a team win a SC with a Kyle Wellwood type centering one of their lines? Does it make sense for Benning to flip Vey right now for some help on the back end (or on the wing)? Or do we trade away our biggest NHL ready center man who looks to be entering his prime.
