Centre vs Defenceman: How General Managers Make the Draft Call

If you’re the general manager of a hockey team, do you draft a first-line Centre or do you build your team around the first-pairing defensemen? 

Most of the answers I got say it depends on the organization or the management. Better yet, it depends on the organization’s biggest need. For example, the Toronto Maple Leafs need a first-pairing defenceman who could help on the power play. But the Calgary Flames need a first-line center—although some Calgary Flames fans say the defenceman trumps the centre because the zone coverage is so bad.

The New York Islanders will tell you how grateful they are for the defenseman Matthew Schaeffer. There is no doubt in their minds that the route to take for every organization is addressing the defenseman. 

Of course, a general manager has to use his common sense. If the first player in the draft is a Centre who is a generational player, then, of course, that changes everything — you have to draft the said player. 

That being said, if both players are equal, most people told me the defenseman is the way to go. My source informs me that the reason people go for a defenceman is that they take longer to develop. It is a harder position to learn. That makes them the more valuable assets.

When it comes down to it,  the defensemen have a lot more responsibility. Playing defence is more complicated than going up and down the ice. 

You have to keep one eye on your own man and the other on everybody else’s man. Ninety percent of the defenceman’s business is addressing mistakes the forwards make. 

That being said, the centremen is the stick that stirs the drink. Without a first-line centre, the team’s offence is in quicksand. If no one is getting the snipers the puck, how are they supposed to shoot? Every good team in the league has a top-line center, the biggest cog of the offense. 

Final word, I guess I would have to say I am leaning toward picking the defenseman just simply because it’s harder to grow a defenseman than it is a first-line center. They are more valuable in the long run.