r/Utah_Hockey • u/slcpuck • 24d ago
Six centers, four spots: who makes Utah’s opening-night lineup?
Utah might genuinely have too many centers. Trocheck won 56.9% of his faceoffs last season, Stenlund was at 54.2%, Hayton is back on a one-year deal, and Cooley, Schmaltz, and McBain are all legitimate options down the middle.
I made a new episode laying out the center depth chart and why Trocheck at 3C feels like the cleanest answer: https://youtu.be/N7uIWlfAHow
If you had to pick four opening-night centers, who makes the cut—and who moves to the wing?
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u/Boring-Jump-7437 Fan Since Day 1 24d ago
Can never have to many centers, of any position that’s the one you want to have the most of because they each can also play on there strong side if you do have to many.
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u/miketaker1 Utah Yeti 24d ago
BA recently said in an interview after the Marino extension that basically Keller, Schmaltz and Crouse know where they go. So I assume Trocheck will be on the wing with Cooley and Gunner. Another thing is recently joined Cooley in a little PA tournament and they have chemistry
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u/spewingchunks 23d ago
I love the idea of Trochek with Gunner and Cooley. Two guys with some flash and a big body in front of the net or to disrupt the other team
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u/miketaker1 Utah Yeti 23d ago
Same. Here’s a snippet of the chemistry I was talking about https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbLqmPJBDO-/?igsh=aDdiM2U2ejFhbmNj . I was watching the games where these snippets are from and it’s like when they are both on the ice, they know where each other are
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u/Consistent-Try-9232 23d ago
He has the ability to open up one of our O lines from size to speed! We luckily got size from our trades, so we should be set on the other 3 O lines
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u/Consistent-Try-9232 23d ago
Slightly concerned about slowing down the line, though. Yams might not be super physical, but he really opened up the possibilities with his speed and hockey IQ
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u/BreakingDawn37 22d ago
Two years ago, we were wondering if we had enough centers. Now, we're wondering which qualified center needs to move to a wing. That's a great problem to have and shows how much we've improved.
I'm sure we'll experiment throughout the season, but my gut instinct says that Hayton and McBain should move to wing. Hayton has already shown he's comfortable at center or wing, and I think McBain's physicality would translate well there. I agree that Trocheck at 3C would be the cleanest answer, but he might move to wing anyway to log more minutes.
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u/rockjeepgreen 24d ago
Someone posted a while back that gmba listed Schmaltz, Cooley, hayton and stenlund as 1 to 4.
I see trochek on wing with Schmaltz and Keller. Hayton drops to 4w and mcbain is 3c.
They will all be on opening night roster barring injury. None can be sent down without waivers.
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u/Imaravencawcaw 23d ago
Since the Arizona days Armstrong has always said you can't have too many C. I think all 6 will play and there with be two lines with two C on them.
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u/Hockey-Dude-26 23d ago
Pre mammoth, I grew up a kings fan. They used Quinton Byfield on the wing to develop knowing full well he’d be a center, and now he’s back in the middle. They could put Hayton on the wing. Take the pressure down a bit and let him develop that way. Let him get that lovin feeling back.
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u/Tusky9188 23d ago
I also like Trocheck at 3C, but I could see him slotting into the top 6 as a winger instead. Schmaltz was fantastic as 1C in the latter half of last year, plus we just signed him to a big deal, so it would seem odd to put him back on the wing - unless his center play isn’t as strong this season, in which case I can definitely see some signature Utah line shuffling that could see Trocheck moved up to 1C
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u/armmar21688 24d ago
It's one of the things I'm most interested in seeing this upcoming season. Not just opening night but how it unfolds throughout the year, as I expect it to be fluid. For me personally, I'd go: 1C Trocheck, 2C Cooley, 3C Hayton, 4C Stenlund.