Unveiled: The Shocking NHL Centers Rankings That Could Reshape the Playoff Race
22. Calgary Flames
Current quality: 37th percentile
Looking for: Top-line center
In some spots, you’ll hear that the Flames — who scraped their way to 96 points last season — need a center to play behind Nazem Kadri. What they actually need, though, is someone to play in front of him. At this point in his career, Kadri projects as a high-end second-line center.
On teams with another similar player in the mix, that’s acceptable enough. The Kings, with Kopitar and Byfield, come to mind. The Mammoth do too, to a lesser degree. Sticking a garden-variety 2C between Kadri and Mikael Backlund, though, won’t get Calgary anywhere close to contender status, especially as Backlund — always offensively limited — enters the back half of his 30s. It might not get them too far into the wild-card discussion, either. Dustin Wolf can only do so much.
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