Middle men make the difference

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This article was published 23/04/2024 (505 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Having a solid one-two punch down the middle is no longer enough.

To be the last team standing in the chase for the Stanley Cup these days, having four reliable centres is the rule and not the exception.

As the opening-round series between the Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche continues, a quick look under the hood supports the aforementioned theory.

Much like when the Vegas Golden Knights reached the top of the mountain last spring with Jack Eichel, Chandler Stephenson, William Karlsson and Nicolas Roy taking the majority of the reps at centre, the Jets and Avalanche feature the type of four-line depth that is required to go on a deep run.

Reaching that point meant the respective general managers — Kevin Cheveldayoff of the Jets and Chris MacFarland of the Avalanche — went shopping prior to the NHL trade deadline.

Winnipeg went with a pre-emptive strike, acquiring Sean Monahan from the Montreal Canadiens for a first-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and a conditional third rounder in 2027 if the Jets win the Stanley Cup this spring.

Monahan has been an optimal fit for the Jets, providing a steadying presence on the second scoring line with Nikolaj Ehlers and Tyler Toffoli, a deadline-day acquisition.

The Jets were incredibly deep down the middle during the 2018 run to the Western Conference final, when Mark Scheifele, Paul Stastny, Adam Lowry and Bryan Little were the pivots — with Andrew Copp and several others able to play the position if a situation arose where that skillset was required.

This group certainly rivals that one.

“We’ve had some good centremen here over the years, and this year it’s the same,” said Scheifele. “We have a lot of tremendous centremen, we also have a lot of guys who play (on the) wing that can play centre. That always makes for a good team, when you have guys that can play in different positions and take faceoffs.”

Much like Little moving down the lineup after the arrival of Stastny, Vladislav Namestnikov is currently anchoring the fourth line after spending a good chunk of this season playing on the second line with Ehlers and Cole Perfetti (who started the campaign at centre before shifting to the wing).

Gabriel Vilardi is another player who has been used at centre at the NHL level, though he’s spent the bulk of this season at right wing on the top line with Scheifele and Kyle Connor.

David Gustafsson is another natural centre playing on the wing right now.

Although trading Pierre-Luc Dubois to the Los Angeles Kings took a bite out of the Jets’ centre depth, they’ve filled that void and are now so deep that Rasmus Kupari has been a frequent healthy scratch.

Having such great depth down the middle is a benefit for head coach Rick Bowness, whether he has last change or not.

“You can get away from matchups easily,” said Monahan. “To be able to have four centremen who can play against anybody, that’s huge.”

The Jets haven’t given up on Perfetti eventually playing centre full time at the NHL level, and they also watched Brad Lambert develop incredibly well this season with the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League.

That won’t prevent them from trying to sign Monahan to an extension before he hits the open market — and there’s a good reason for that.

“It’s very important. But overall, it’s not just centres, it’s the overall depth. Guys can move around,” said Namestnikov. “We have all the ingredients. Now, we just have to put it together.”

Ehlers is often the guy who is forced to adapt to an incoming centre, whether that was Stastny, Kevin Hayes or Monahan, and he has high praise for the guy currently occupying the job.

“(Stastny) was constantly in the right position, every single time,” said Ehlers. “(Monahan) is a little faster than Stas was, so he’s able to get into those positions as well. Maybe a little more (involved) off the rush as well.

“I’ve always said (Stastny) is the best player I’ve ever played with and (Monahan) is almost just as easy to play with, which is pretty fun for me.”

When the Avalanche captured the Stanley Cup in 2022, their depth down the middle was led by Nathan MacKinnon and supported strongly by Nazem Kadri, JT Compher and Manitoba product Darren Helm, whose championship-winning experience and penalty killing capabilities came in quite handy.

The Avalanche felt so strongly about upgrading the position in March that they moved one of their best defencemen, Bowen Byram (the fourth-overall pick in the 2019) to the Buffalo Sabres to acquire Casey Mittelstadt.

They also added some sandpaper by picking up Yakov Trenin from the Nashville Predators.

Those moves came after the off-season move to acquire Ross Colton from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“(Mittelstadt) has been really good. I thought he played awesome (in Game 1). He was really hard on the puck and had a goal at the end there to give us a chance and, obviously, we got (Colton), who is a physical, two-way guy and (Trenin) is the same thing,” said MacKinnon. “We’re deep there. We have the players to do this. I’m not sure we’ll ever be on as good of a team as we were in 2022, but we’re still good enough to win in this room and we’re excited for the challenge.”

As this series shifts to Denver for the next two games, there’s a sense the eight centres will be critical in the race to four wins to advance to the second round.

“It’s all about depth and being able to not just have responsible players on both sides of the puck, but then also to have guys that can contribute and chip in offensively,” said Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar. “(Adding Monahan) just makes (the Jets) that much more difficult to deal with. No different than us adding Mittelstadt, Trenin, and guys like that.”

ken.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca

X: @WiebesWorld