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.