Welcome Matt: Canucks should play Pettersson and Miller on separate lines next season
We are having some fun on our poll question today.
NHL.com fantasy writer Pete Jensen wrote that Vasily Podkolzin would be the Canucks best winger in two to three years, with all due respect to Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser. And so we’re asking that exact question at Sekeres and Price on Twitter.
The future of the @Canucks is bright. ✨ @NHLFantasy
Listen ➡️ https://t.co/9sxmhTEV3B pic.twitter.com/2LeVSbUIcl
— NHL (@NHL) August 21, 2022
You can forgive out-of-market folk for their confusion.
J.T. Miller played mostly wing during his Canucks tenure, albeit while taking face-offs, until last year. Pettersson played mostly centre in his Canucks tenure until head coach Bruce Boudreau decided to take some pressure off of him, and played him at wing on the top line with Miller.
Sometimes they switch back after the draw with Petey assuming the more arduous defensive responsibility of the centreman, sometimes they don’t.
Most everyone around the club expects Pettersson to settle in at centre because that’s where you want top players and because of how thin the Canucks are at that position beyond the NHL level. There aren’t many young centres in the pipeline, plus EP40 has the defensive chops to be an effective checker against other top centres.
For me, the future should start now.
Play Pettersson at centre. Give him his own line like Miller and Bo Horvat.
Play your three big guns down the middle to complement this impressive group of wingers, and have hearty top-nine where Curtis Lazar, Dakota Joshua, and Jason Dickinson can play on the fourth line where they deserve to be slotted.
Besides, if Miller doesn’t re-sign he’ll be traded and that forces Pettersson back to the middle anyway.
So don’t delay proceedings, if you like Pettersson and Miller together, you can always load up a line in-game.
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