It's really not, and I think Francis has done a very bad job so far even with a handful of good snares. The center stable is just sad (this team will be scraping the bottom in faceoff %, but hey at least he has 32 LDs!), the O zone creativity is almost non-existent, the sniping ability is equally spare and the D has a couple of major sink hole warning spots. This is not a $72M roster.

This is a lazy take. Their center lineup is... it's not great at the top end but it's there throughout the lineup. I might be able to speak more highly of Geekie than others because being a Canes fan, I have seen more of him. He's really solid as a 4th liner, and can play both special team units. Was improving in the dot under Rod too.

Berniers will be in experienced, but Wennberg and Gourde are both good middle 6 C's, and can certainly play the kind of role for this team Danault, Kotkaniemi and Suzuki did for Montreal did this summer.

Heh. It's a Cpt. Obvious take is more like it.

You call Gourde and Wennberg middle 6 centers, which is quite the exaggeration. Even if it was true, they are being asked to be 1C and 2C. This is way over their heads, as Gourde is really a winger and Wennberg hasn't been a real impact player for like four seasons now. As for Geekie, he has plenty of nice tools, which would be amazing if he wasn;t such a poor skater. This has obviously held him back, and presumably will continue to do so. Early evidence indicates he's an AHL-er.

Long story short, comparing these guys to KK, Danault and Suzuki is silly. The C spot is a huge problem for this team. How that can be argued with a straight face is beyond me.

Geekie's skating is not poor... hell, in his NHL debut he skates the blade of Evgenii Malkin and the Penguins as he put up 3 points in his first game.

Gourde played C in Tampa and did it very successfully with Coleman and Goodrow on either side. He's always done that very effectively, and he's very capable as a middle-six C. He's going to be asked to play as a 1C, which isn't ideal, but it's worth a shot. Wennberg has had success as a middle-six center, and is going to be asked to do the same in Seattle. It's something he did in Columbus, and he did it well. Not fantastically, but well enough.

This C core is not as weak as you suggest, and how you can think otherwise makes me question you a lot.

This is not a great team but I think Francis is doing it right? Cap space is King right now. He will eventually trade some of these guys to contenders for draft picks and assets, Giordano, Gourde, Danskoi, and Larson should net nice returns at the trade deadline.

1- It's very true that he had a huge debut night. Since then, he has 11 points in 48 games. And it's hardly a hot take to note that his skating is poor. It's not a secret.

2- It's very true that Gourde ended up playing some 3C, but most of his time there has been on the wing. And there's a big difference between doing the job of a 3C and doing the job of a 1C. Gourde's a good player, but this is not a good situation for him. As for Wennberg, his successful phase was like 4-5 years ago by now. Compared to the other 2Cs in the league it's another big matchup problem.

3- Relative to the other C cores around the league, it's undeniably weak. You've practically admitted such without actually admitting such. How many teams can you have an inferior C stable to the Seattle group above? Even the Sabres have them beat at C (for the moment, anyway).

You are horribly mistaking a lack of top end talent with a lack of depth. Sure, there's not a 1C... but 2-4C are all AHLers in Buffalo. I'd take this C core over Detroit, Buffalo, Ottawa (for now)... even somewhere like Dallas if Seguin gets injured, or Columbus. I'd consider this on par with places like New Jersey and Nashville and even Montreal to an extent. There's no 1C. Fine, but a lot of teams don't have that 1C. All 4 of these guys are good players that are capable of playing in the NHL (Berniers aside, we obviously don't know that much). I do think you need to re-evaluate the difference between depth weaknesses like you're saying and talent issues.

1- Mittlestadt is an AHLer now? Cozens? What? Besides, Eichel almost takes this one by himself. Not buying it.

2- Okay, so let's count those other two...

3- Haha what??? "If the best one gets injured" is not how this works, man. Besides, there's no one in Seattle as good as Hintz and Pavs was nearly a ppg last season.

4- I'll let Columbus slide, as well, so that's three...

5- Bro. You're reaching like Mr. Fantastic now, but I'll go ahead and give you Nashville just to compromise. So that's four...

I could quibble with the rest of your comment, but will opt to focus instead. So I'm giving you four teams with inferior C stables (and frankly, I do not agree that all of them are). Last time I checked, being 27th out of 32 teams is weak. And that's not even factoring in how many of those 26 ahead of them are waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay ahead of them at the C position.

Sorry, man, I cannot even fathom how anyone could see this group and say "No, that's not a realtively weak group of Cs compared to all the other teams. Cmon. I'm not saying anything remotely controversial here.

You act like Seguin isn't injury prone

Mittelstadt isn't good. Sorry not sorry. Cozens played on the wing with Reinhart at 2C, but now Reinhart is gone too! So yes, Buffalo has a team of AHLers down the middle, it's why they are far and away the worst team in the NHL and thats WITH Eichel.

This is an average C core. It's not great, but there are worse, even in their own division... look at Anaheim for example. This isn't controversial. While Gourde is out, what you're saying makes sense, but when he's healthy, this is a pile of average in the league.

1- Wow. And what pray tell happens if any of Seattle's four gets injured. I mean, we need to be fair and apply that hypothetical condition to both sides, right?

2- Oi vey. Middlestadt is sure as hell better than Wennberg and Geekie. And Cozens is a center, he only played there last season because A) he was a rookie & B) the Sabres are jideous short of capable top 6 wingers.

3- I'm fairly confident you're the only one who would take these SEA four over Zegras, Getzlaf, Henrique, Terry, Lundestrom and Steel, but fine. Now their 26th out of 32. It's ever so slightly less weak then.

- Gourde is out with an injury
- Wennberg is overpaid after beeing let go by 2 teams in 2 years.
- Berniers is going back to Michigan.
- Lack of scoring power
- Lack of size on the bottom 6
- Lack of RHD
- 10M unspent
- Only got one extra pick in the top 100

They have no choice but to do a firesale at TDL to get assets. The worst thing that could happen is to be in playoffs position in the weak Pacific and try a run like Vegas...

41 goals last year between the 1st line, 2nd liners is about where the 2nd liners need to be. The 3rd with Matty Beniers could potentially be very impactful between Tanev and Jarnkrok. The Bottom line should be fine. I think the lineup is better than you give it credit for. They have solid defense.

I agree, it's not the best Center depth, but it's not the worst either. Beniers will grow into that 1C role, I just don't think it's gonna be right away.

Yanni Gourde played a ton of Center minutes before Point was even in the talks about being one. They had Point on the wing. Yanni Gourde is a Top 6 Forward maybe not the most ideal first line guy, but we all said the same thing about Vegas and they went on to make a stanley cup final in their first year with a not so great Center depth as well.

You aren't giving the team any credit at all. The team has good depth. you've got about 7 forwards who can play Top 6/Middle 6 roles. Matty Beniers down the middle will give you something you are going to need. The team is not bad, I'm looking at it from the perspective of the brand new team. It's not a bad lineup, and for what they have in the division this is still probably a playoff contending team.

smh, it's time for these players to step up in bigger roles that they weren't asked before. Gourde was playing very well in Tampa and knows his way around the ice. If Point and Stamkos weren't 1 and 2 you put Gourde at 2. Blues for awhile was making playoffs with David Backes who let's be realistic is a 2C, I think you feel the team isn't going to succeed in these areas but look at who they have to face. Vancouver has terrible defense, Edmonton might have semi decent defense, and Calgary is going through a defensive core revamp. Only team that has it for the taking is Vegas. All of the California teams aren't going very good.

Yes I know Gourde is injured he'll be back later on, but he'll be back a bit later.

I don't get it