If you had asked me two years ago, “Which would you prefer, a No. 1 center or a No. 1 defenseman?,” I would have answered, “Defenseman, and it’s not even close.”
A true No. 1 defenseman is the mystical player that every team is searching for to stabilize the blue line. The best of them can eat big minutes, more minutes than any other skater on the team, and elevate their fellow defensemen in the process.
Given the choice between one or the other, the final verdict is still the same today. Since the summer of 2015, however, my stalwart opinion has started shifting.
It started Jan. 6 with Nashville, now in its first conference final in team history, trading would-be franchise defenseman Seth Jones to the Columbus Blue Jackets for pivot Ryan Johansen.
The Predators were a team that always lacked a No. 1 center and had ample defensive players to make a trade like this. But bringing in Johansen had a far stronger effect on the team than many expected. Johansen became a playmaker for a core of young and talented wingers, settling Nashville’s offensive lines and turning the team into a true Stanley Cup threat in the process.
Prior to that, the Tampa Bay Lightning lost their top center for the season when Steven Stamkos went down with an injury in mid-November. To say the team floundered for most of the season without his leadership and skill, even with a Norris Trophy finalist in Victor Hedman, is an understatement.
The Bolts were 10-6-1 (a .618 winning percentage) at the time of Stamkos’ most recent game. They went 32-24-9 (.562) the rest of the way and finished one point out of the playoffs.
Then, if you look back at the last two drafts, you can see a pattern of teams drafting top-line, superstar-caliber centers, putting them in the lineup and enjoying sudden turnarounds in the win-loss column.
Look at the impact Connor McDavid has had in Edmonton or Auston Matthews in Toronto. In his first injury-free season, the sophomore McDavid posted 100 points in 82 regular-season games, spearheading the Oilers to their first playoff berth in 11 years.
The rookie Matthews led the Leafs with 40 goals and 69 points, and led them to their first postseason in four years and only their second since the 2004-05 lockout. Toronto, a divisional rival of Tampa Bay, took the conference’s last wild-card spot by finishing one point ahead of the Stamkos-less Lightning and the New York Islanders.
While both of these teams’ turnarounds also came with a stabilization of goaltending, having a top offensive talent at center feels like a big part of why they were able to make the playoffs and why they have such bright futures even without a superstar defensemen.
Now, if given the option of which I would prefer, a No. 1 center or a No. 1 defenseman, I would have to think about it a little longer. While defense wins championships, a top-line defenseman simply cannot match the production of a top-line center (Brent Burns notwithstanding).
I still lean toward defense, just because of how hard it is to find those top talents. But it is nowhere near the easy choice it was two years ago.
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