{"id":544189,"date":"2026-04-06T18:46:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544189\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T18:46:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T18:46:14","slug":"hes-a-2-center-in-the-nhl-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/544189\/","title":{"rendered":"He’s A #2 Center In The NHL Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a> (Photo Credit: @GoldenKnights on X\/Twitter)<\/p>\n

A lot was expected of Mitch Marner in his first season in the desert, and he\u2019s lived up to most of it to this point. It\u2019s the unexpected that often defines seasons and sometimes careers, and Marner has delivered something not many, if any, saw coming when he first pulled on a Golden Knights uniform.<\/p>\n

Mitch Marner has lined up as a center in 35 of his first 76 games in Las Vegas, including all of the last seven. He has played with seven different combinations of wingers, with the most common being Reilly Smith and Pavel Dorofeyev, and most recently with Ivan Barbashev and Mark Stone.<\/p>\n

Even through the coaching change, Marner has remained in the middle, and it doesn\u2019t appear like that\u2019s going to change any time soon.<\/p>\n

When we lost Karlsson, we got thin at center and we decided to try Mitch at center. Most real good hockey players have played center as young guys, but he never played center in Toronto. I don\u2019t think he did in London (OHL). So we tried him at center and he\u2019s been fantastic, and we want to keep him there. \u2013George McPhee on NHL Wraparound Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n

Marner\u2019s skill set obviously fits nicely as a center. He\u2019s defensively responsible, likes to carry the puck high in the zone near the blue line, and has excellent vision, allowing him to find wingers anywhere on the ice. That\u2019s not to say he\u2019s a perfect fit, though, as he\u2019s limited as a forechecker, physically on the weaker side for NHL players, and has not had much success in the faceoff circle.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s going to be moved around. He\u2019s too good a player to be locked into one line all the time. I\u2019ll move some people into different positions depending on what\u2019s going on, depending on the momentum of games. I\u2019ve kind of explained that to Mitch already, and obviously players will never turn down ice time. -John Tortorella<\/p>\n

The results have continued to roll individually for Marner, and recently, the team results have improved, so he\u2019s understandably content.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m pretty comfortable playing all three positions. I\u2019ve done them all three this year, so, yeah, whatever (Tortorella) feels best with throwing me out there on. I\u2019m always good with it. Just trying to be smart with my shift. -Marner<\/p>\n

Marner\u2019s ability to play center has really filled a massive void for the Golden Knights. Of course, Jack Eichel remains the team\u2019s first choice, but with Tomas Hertl struggling to generate offense recently and both Brett Howden and Colton Sissons thriving on the wing, Marner\u2019s presence in the middle has stabilized not only the top-six but the entire forward group.<\/p>\n

It isn\u2019t very often when you can convert a winger to a center, that rarely happens in this league. He\u2019s so clever and so intelligent defensively, stripping pucks, getting in the way of things. He\u2019s probably been our most consistent player. He\u2019s a number two center in the NHL right now. -McPhee<\/p>\n

Marner has posted 18 points in his last 16 games, highlighted by the hat trick and five-point game at home against Calgary. He\u2019s up to 77 points on the season and has posted an excellent +17 rating, the second-best mark on the team.<\/p>\n

The playoffs will be an even tougher test for Marner as a matchup centerman, but so far, he\u2019s handled every challenge, giving plenty of reason for optimism.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Photo Credit: @GoldenKnights on X\/Twitter) A lot was expected of Mitch Marner in his first season in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544190,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5129],"tags":[11496,149,5317,5,348,533,4,74,39,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-544189","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegas-golden-knights","8":"tag-george-mcphee","9":"tag-golden-knights","10":"tag-goldenknights","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-john-tortorella","13":"tag-mitch-marner","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-vegas","16":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","17":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116359253069500054","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544190"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}