2C or 3C

[J-P]

3 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Maybe Pods plays 3C, and Miller is on his wing?  

That would be ideal but not really seeing how Podz is a center. I'd love to be wrong though, Podz playmaking and hustle is a perfect 3C.

[Bertuzzipunch]

1 minute ago, J-P said:

boone jenner, columbus

Yeah he would be a good fit for our team.

[Alflives]

Just now, J-P said:

That would be ideal but not really seeing how Podz is a center. I'd love to be wrong though, Podz playmaking and hustle is a perfect 3C.

Maybe Green does with Pods like he did with Petey?  I wonder who the best wingers would be for Pods if he was 3C?  Motte and ?

[J-P]

1 minute ago, Alflives said:

Maybe Green does with Pods like he did with Petey?  I wonder who the best wingers would be for Pods if he was 3C?  Motte and ?

Yeah I was always impressed that Green trusted EP as a center right away.

 

Motte is a nice compliment to Podz but there needs to be a shooter as well (think that is Podz weakness). Lind?

 

I don't believe in the loaded top line going forward so if Podz can actually play center I would suggest something like

 

Miller - EP - Motte/Gadj

Pearson - Bo - Hogs

Motte/Gadj - Podz - Boeser

 

And that's with no additions to the top 9!

[kanucks25]

I don't know if Horvat is the shutdown type center we need. I think if the organization asked him to be that, he could improve in some areas and do it, but I don't know if that's the best use of his ability/skill-set.

 

I think he's suited pretty perfectly as a 2-way 2C.

[Alflives]

1 minute ago, J-P said:

Yeah I was always impressed that Green trusted EP as a center right away.

 

Motte is a nice compliment to Podz but there needs to be a shooter as well (think that is Podz weakness). Lind?

 

I don't believe in the loaded top line going forward so if Podz can actually play center I would suggest something like

 

Miller - EP - Motte/Gadj

Pearson - Bo - Hogs

Motte/Gadj - Podz - Boeser

 

And that's with no additions to the top 9!

These are nicely balanced lines, and Green can move the wingers around as he sees best.  The top guys will still get their extra minutes on the PP.  

[smithers joe]

37 minutes ago, khay said:

IMO, Bo's scoring rate is way too high to be considered a 3C.

 

Given more scoring opportunities, I think Bo can hit 70+ points as I somehow feel that Bo hasn't hit his prime yet. He has been improving every season and looks like he will continue to improve further in the next couple of years. 

 

If we are going to use Bo for more defensive roles, we better get a 2C that can produce better offence than Bo. Finding such player will be difficult and expensive.

 

Two names that have been thrown around as possible 2C options are Sam Reinhart and RNH. Both of these guys has very similar, perhaps slightly better offensive numbers to Bo.

 

But RNH will require some term + dollar and acquiring Reinhart will be costly, maybe a 1st rounder + a prospect.

 

So why not just keep Bo as 2C and find a cheaper 3C that can kill penalties, produce maybe 20-40 points in a season unless Reinhart or RNH or someone else is available on a discount like Schmidt last season? 

if we just get a defensive 3c, then we're back to 2 scoring lines and 2 checking lines.

Just my thoughts.

 

 

[aGENT]

36 minutes ago, J-P said:

Nope. Too expensive, on the downhill and not too impressed by his playoffs stats. He's a good player at the right age for a 3-4 year contract as a 3C so not dismissing it as a proposal, but at the 4-5 mil I expect he'll get it's a no for me.

 

He is the kind of of player you go after if you're being "aggressive" and don't mind overpaying a bit though...

Hard to say. Neither of us knows his price. And next year we have cap opening up to pay him a reasonable rate if he'll take it.

 

Disagree he's 'on the down hill' (at least any more than any UFA aged player).

 

I'd happily go in to 22-23 with the following C depth if we could get him:

 

Miller/Pettersson

Horvat

Jenner

Lind?/Jasek? Other?

 

That's championship C depth

[aGENT]

26 minutes ago, J-P said:

Motte is a nice compliment to Podz but there needs to be a shooter as well (think that is Podz weakness). Lind?

 

Lind is more of a play maker was well.

[oldnews]

55 minutes ago, UKNuck96 said:

I would still envision Horvat even at 3C would get more ice than most of the other forwards. 
 

The reason I use the 2C /3C tags is because is more about how traditionally the role would be to make it easier to get the point across that rather than looking for a defensive centre to plug in, we use Horvat and look for a more offensive centre instead. 

I think the team's approach is more hybrid than that though - often situational - and dependent upon who is in the lineup.

Horvat already plays a measure of 'defensive center' / matchup at 5o5, against opposition top 6. 

When they're without Sutter, Beagle - he leans further towards shutdown/matchup and can be 'expected' to provide less secondary scoring.

When the team's healthy though - he still plays some 'matchup' - but his minutes can be more 'dual' - with less 'hard minutes' - and in the end, while he plays a 5on5 matchup role a lot of the time, he's still not a penalty killer (even Miller steps into that role more frequently than Horvat when the team is not healthy...) - still not a 'dedicated defensive' center - and he's heavily supported by a pair of more dedicated shutdown centers.  Choosing to opt for another offensive center, instead - impacts how much the team is able to tilt the ice for Pettersson/Boeser - (and they're not nearly the only youth in the lineup).   It's possible they're nearing being ready for that, but I'd prefer a two way center at this point - one that can more definitely handle the harder side of the minutes.

I think we're likely to see at least one center added to play the kind of minutes that Sutter did, and possibly another depending on Beagle's health. 

Pipe dream would be to acquire a player like Couturier - who gives us what we both want - quite the ask - but ideally in the longer run they might find that player. 

 

[204CanucksFan]

Don't think we'd be able to afford him, but for me, the best 3C on the market would be Phillip Danault. Statistically Bo is already a high end 2C. Since the 2016-17 season Bo is 36th among all NHL centers in points and 26th in goals.

[Ajax-]

3 hours ago, dm_ranger said:

completely agree on the issue.  I think the best we can hope for with cap issues is something like:

 

Boeser - Petey -- Hog

_____  -- Miller - Podz

Pearson - Horvat - Highmore

Motte - Boyd -- MacEwen

 

Boeser - Petey -- Hog

Pearson  -- Miller - Podz

Motte - Horvat - Highmore

Bailey - Graovac -- MacEwen

Beagle Hawryluk

 

Running with Horvat as 3c I think Motte can be an effective 3rd liner

 

 

[J-P]

37 minutes ago, aGENT said:

Hard to say. Neither of us knows his price. And next year we have cap opening up to pay him a reasonable rate if he'll take it.

 

Disagree he's 'on the down hill' (at least any more than any UFA aged player).

 

I'd happily go in to 22-23 with the following C depth if we could get him:

 

Miller/Pettersson

Horvat

Jenner

Lind?/Jasek? Other?

 

That's championship C depth

Fair point. I don't think Jenner will live up to his FA contract as mentioned but you're right that at the right price and if he maintains current level that's a good looking center depth.

[J-P]

38 minutes ago, aGENT said:

 

Lind is more of a play maker was well.

Right, he did put up a few goals on the PP in the A but you're probably right he's more of a passer. Not enough shooters on the team!

[Nurnge]

Pods as Center ? For those not old enough to have seen Trevor Linden as a Rookie WINGER  he was awesome to watch . He dominated scored 30 goals , Hit everything that moved .He would go into the corners and do what the Sedins did But by himself . yes the Canucks really sucked his first couple of years ....But the Canucks wanted that Big Center  . Now it was Good for the Canucks but he probably would be considered for the HOF if he would have continued to play wing . So I hope the Canucks don't try to change Pods just to fill a need at third line center .

[4petesake]

3 hours ago, khay said:

I actually didn't like Miller as a center. 

 

I think being a winger lets Miller play within his limitations. Being a center exposed Miller's weaknesses as he had way more responsibilities and he let his frustration get the better of him on many occasions when he wasn't able to fulfill some of those responsibilities well.

 

I think we absolutely need to acquire a 3C.

Yeah I could have clarified that a bit better. I’m fine with Miller at center short term. If/when we have cap I hope we target a more offensive center and put Miller back on the wing. I feel fairly sure that we’ll grab a center or RHD this draft so while we wait someone like Dickinson would be a good fit at 4 or if he plays well move him to 3 and Miller back to the wing.

[Schmautzie]

5 hours ago, Viper007 said:

You know that when he said "ran out of time" wasn't referring to trying to resign Toffoli during FA.  It was the fact that COVID screwed up the plans.

Actually he was referring to resigning Toffoli during free agency. Benning admitted that he was trying to move some money out but couldn’t get it done before Toffoli signed with Montreal four days into free agency. COVID affected every team’s plans.

[Nigerian]

Players I’d like to see the Canucks go after in FA, barring they get a reasonable price for these players, are;

 

Danault, Granlund, Saad, Coleman, Montour, Palmieri. 
 

Come on fellas, take up this opportunity to play with some young stars in Petey, Hogs, Pods, and Hughes. Even one of those players on a reasonable price would pay off wonders if we are looking at rolling 3 scoring lines with players capable of playing shutdown minutes. 

[MattJVD]

9 hours ago, UKNuck96 said:

So there is a lot of talk about how we need a 3c going forward and a lot of trade proposals or ways we could acquire one;

 

The way I look at it is we have a perfect 3C in Horvat if we want to run three strong lines. 1st becomes more offence orientated, 2nd balances 3rd more defensive but all three would still be able to score and play. 
 

We would still use BH on the PP and PK and on matchups so even though he would be ‘3C’ he would still probably clock up more time than 1st line. 
 

based on what we need I would prefer to look for a player that has offensive upsides than looking to find someone to plug the 3rd line option?

 

what are people’s thoughts on this? 

No team in the League has a consistant 60 point pace Captain as a 3C. Bo is a prototypical 2C, good offensive player with defensive chops. As @tas said above, he's closer to a 1C than a 3C. 

 

We used to have the same discussions about Kesler and it was wild then too. A 70 point, (one time) 40 goal scoring Selke winner- and people wanted to call him a 3C.

[EddieVedder]

9 hours ago, tas said:

yeah. I think it's interesting that we still underrated Bo this way. he's averaged 26 goals and 58 points per 82 games over the last 5 seasons while taking most of the hardest matchups. 

 

I think he's closer to a 1c than a 3c. 

Agree.  This thread proves how little nuck fans on these boards actually know about hockey.