Young Centers Making Most of Heightened Opportunity

by Kevin Klein

(Photo by: Greg Flume/Getty Images)

It’s amazing what the tessellating course of an 82-game season can do for an NHLer’s career. Just ask Marcus Johansson or Mathieu Perrault, two young centers who have been thrust into roles of significantly greater responsibility than anticipated at the season’s onset.

Despite their similar statures— Johansson is listed at 6’1”, 205 lbs; Perrault at 5’10”, 185 lbs— their styles of play each bring something different to the ice. Johansson is in something of the same mold as the Capitals’ top pivot, Nicklas Backstrom— a smooth-skating, pretty-passing forward who looks to set his linemates up before pulling the trigger himself. This is a trait manifest in many Swedish centerman around the league, notably Henrik Sedin in Vancouver.

Perrault’s game, however, is not so easily defined. He possesses speed, but not the same easy, gliding strides as Johansson. He possesses a certain level of offensive prowess, but he doesn’t thrive in the open-ice like his Swedish counterpart (svelte-looking goal recently scored in Montreal aside). He is instead most effective on the boards, or around the net; he creates from behind, finishes from in front. What Perrault lacks in size, or pure offensive ability, he makes up for in grit, and— especially behind the net in the offensive zone— an uncanny ability to change directions on dime, often two or three times in succession, to create space for a pass in front.

While neither of these young players could endeavor to fulfill the void created by Backstrom’s absence on the first-line and powerplay, both players— Perrault in particular— have embraced their heightened roles. In 15 games played since Backstrom was sidelined by an errant and malicious Bourquian elbow, Johansson has notched 11 points, and Perrault has earned 9, including 6 goals during the span which put him well on his way to setting career highs in nearly every scoring category. Both have seen increases in powerplay time, and both have been given the opportunity to center the Capital’s top line.

The blossoming of young talent is always an exciting occurrence for an organization, regardless of the sport. For Johansson, the team’s 1^st round choice in 2009, the production is a positive, but perhaps expected, as first round draft picks are generally hoped to make an immediate splash with the team. Perrault, however, a 6^th round draft choice in 2006, is a horse of a different color. He’s been up and down with the Capitals and the Hershey Bears, and has earned himself a reputation of being a streaky player with bursts of points coming instead of sustained offensive output. But since Backstrom’s absence Perrault has played consistently well— he’s both created and finished, on a team that has been lacking in either category.

The Capitals are still in dire need of a center. The playoffs are a different animal than the regular season— more physical, less space, with bigger bodies often prevailing through the neutral zone. Perrault and Johansson’s relative inexperience are a con in this scenario. Should the Capitals acquire a veteran center for the second line and make a playoff run, however, the experience acquired by the two young pivots during this stretch could prove valuable.

Imagine for a moment the following: Nicklas Backstrom returns before the playoffs, the Capitals make a move at or before the deadline for a veteran 2^nd line center, and then the play of Marcus Johansson or Mathieu Perrault, or both remains high. You can also imagine palm trees, banana oil, and supermodels if you like. This is ideal. By no means guaranteed. But it’s also a situation in which the Caps center depth is vastly improved from where it was tonight, 29 games before season’s end.

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featured image: Washington Capitals’ Mathieu Perreault, center, shakes hands with Marcus Johansson, of Sweden, after completing a hat trick against the Boston Bruins during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, in Washington. The Capitals won 5-3. (AP Photo/Richard Lipski)