Habster:
Guy Carbonneau has thrown out the idea of playing Sergei Kostitsyn at the center position to start training camp and possibly the season if “you know who” doesn’t come to Montreal.
Carbo tried Sergei at the center position last season for a few games when Saku Koivu injured his foot. He struggled at the time and had trouble in the faceoff circle.
To be fair to Kost Jr, he had not played the center position since his junior days in London where he played the position sparingly. He played at center more frequently during his minor hockey days in Belarus and certainly has the play making skill/on ice vision to be a very good center.
Sergei will definitely have to work on improving his faceoff skills which shouldn’t be too difficult with former great faceoff specialists like Carbonneau, Jarvis and Muller tutoring him during training camp.
There is also more defensive responsibilities playing center that could limit Sergei Kostitsyn’s offensive game and creativity.
Either way, Carbonneau is thinking outside the box with a potentially high reward, low risk situation, why not give it a try if Mr. Sundin goes elsewhere.
A centre doesn’t have to be great at faceoffs as long as there is another player on the ice who is. Nothing saying he has to take the draws. Sergei is an excellant playmaker and would work just fine as the third line centre. Otherwise he will be competing with his brother for playing time on the wing, and that could prove to be awkward.
The “more defensive responsibilities playing center that could limit Sergei Kostitsyn’s offensive game and creativity” argument is complete BS… the game’s best playmakers have always traditionally played center and produced big numbers.
From Joe Thornton to even Mike Ribeiro… just shows you how foolish that point is.
Hey Rob,
I’m not sure having another center on the ice everytime there is a faceoff draw is a good thing. It limits Carbonneau’s options and also takes away from Sergei’s confidence. It might work if it’s only done for defensive zone draws.
I’m convinced he can greatly improve his faceoff skills with more draws and tons of practice with the coaches and other centers. Sergei definitely has the hand/eye coordination to be a decent faceoff guy.
It would be interesting to have Sergei center an offensively skilled third line. These days, most teams have three offensive lines and one shutdown line.
As far as the defensive responsibilities limiting Sergei’s offensive game, he struggled with the added duties of high slot containment in his own zone (if you watched the games he played center last year!!). And to compare Sergei Kostitsyn to a future Hall of Famer like Joe Thornton is very laughable…..please!!! Compare apples to apples. As much as I like Sergei as a player, he’s no Joe Thornton.
In the end, Sergei might workout to be a solid center but with that being said, we have to be patient with his progress at the position if Carbo decides to go that route.
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