Interesting development.
Any ideas in terms of what it means for guys like Nazar/Moore who are natural centers?
Then for existing players like Dickinson and Guttman who are developing, and then guys like AA who are natural Cs? (Not to forget Tyler Johnson he’s played a decent bit of wing for us.)
The Blackhawks will use Lukas Reichel as an NHL center moving forward, Davidson says. He’s been working on defense and faceoffs over the summer to prepare for that.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) September 19, 2023
by GoldWhale
4 Comments
I just saw this and was curious about the implications as well!
I’m not sure it really impacts Moore/Nazar quite yet, since we still have to see how Reichel pans out there, but Nazar at the very least can potentially switch over to wing in the top six (assuming he also pans out), as I believe he has spent time at RW in his junior career? Moore also may not develop all the offensive tools to be an amazing 2C anyways so having him as a very strong 3C could be a great boon to the depth down the road, if Reichel can hold down the 2C. For those two, we can at least kick that can down the road a season longer lol
What immediately came to mind with this is maybe they want a backup plan in case Bedard really does seem better suited on RW at the NHL level? I personally am not worried about him being a bonafide center, but it would be nice to know we can move him if absolutely necessary and not worry about the 1C role getting filled?
Could be overthinking it, but obviously at least 1-2 of those top four forwards will have to move over to wing at some point lol
Sure beats having Dickinson as our 2C
Well that answers that. I was hoping they would try and develop Bedard – Reichel chemistry early, but this is probably the best development path for him. So still no idea who is Bedard’s RW.
Hall – Bedard – Kurashev/Perry/Athanasiou/T. Johnson/Raddysh/Foligno
I’m not sure what the difference is between position in terms of assignments and whatnot, but increased flexibility never hurts.