Lost in the Eichel press conference was this nugget from Jason Botterill: "That's one of the strengths of our organization right now, having the ability of Jack and O'Reilly and Reinhart down the middle."
A far cry from his initial press conference, where he gave the impression that he considered Sam a winger.
Sam Reinhart generally falls into one of three camps on Sabrespace:
1) He's OK, but he's never going to be the top player you hope a 2nd overall pick would be. Trade him for needed pieces before all the other GMs come to the same conclusion.
2) He might become a good centre, but on this team, he's a 3rd line centre. He is also one of our best wingers and his team needs good wingers more than it needs a 3rd line centre. Play him with one of our great centres to maximize his effectiveness and theirs. There is no shame in being a Patrick Sharp.
3) He's fine on the wing, but he's a natural centre. Let him develop there and you could create a situation where our centre depth will create some serious mismatches. He will still play wing on the PP and can always move there late in games when we shorten the bench.
It's a debate that's been going on for two years and it will continue as Housley appears to give option three its first serious trial.
And since it pops up continuously in all kinds of threads, I thought it might be good to centralize the discussion here.
What do you think of the way Sam is being used, and how he has performed?
And how do you see the situation playing itself out throughout the season and beyond?