I begin this blog by saying the following is in no way a rumour or even something anyone should take as more than just something to think about.
The NHL is a great league, but I think we can all agree that when pulling your goalie a minute or two early constitutes revolutionary thinking, that it is a fairly conservative league.
You have to go all the way back to Brian Burke in 1999 when he made three separate trades on the draft floor in order to move up and get both Sedins, to find a truly good example of a GM doing something crazy.
So what if the Penguins went after Jason Spezza?
It seems like the last thing is they need is a centre, but bear with me here for a second.
They currently have two of the best centres in the NHL, if not in the history of the league. Rarely, at least in the modern 20+ team league, has any team had two centres of such high quality at the same time. The avalanche had Sakic and Forsberg, the Red Wings had Fedorov and Yzerman, and then the Penguins also had Ron Francis and Mario Lemieux. I am sure there are others, but the point is that it's pretty rare.
My question is, then, has any team ever had three #1 centres at once?
Crosby, Malkin, and Spezza down the middle would be a combo that is unheard of. At first it seems like overkill, but if you think about it, it might actually be a really smart idea since an elite talent playing third line level competition should be able to dominate.
As it currently sits, Malkin is on the second line and with defenses playing their best players against Crosby, he probably plays against worse players than almost anyone else of his skill level. Now, it's not like coaches just load up against #87 and ignore Malkin, so in practice it probably isn't that exaggerated. I don't, however, think anyone can argue against the idea that by playing on separate lines, they each probably reduce the level of talent the other has to face, thus giving the Penguins an advantage. My theory is that if you add another elite centre to the mix, you are going to exaggerate this effect exponentially.
Playing behind Crosby and Malkin, Jason Spezza would probably be facing terrible competition, at least relative to his skill level. Teams would be forced to play against an elite offensive threat with their third best defensive players. Spezza would likely spend the majority of his time playing against bottom pairing defenseman, and, at least theoretically, he should be able to eat them alive.
When the Penguins won the Cup in 2009, they had Jordan Staal doing this and it seemed to work out amazingly. If they weren't upset by the Canadiens in game seven of round two the year after they won, they probably would have went to three straight Finals. No one has since tried to replicate the 3 star-centre model, but that's probably because unless you draft the first two, it's pretty damn near impossible. The Penguins have that chance right now.
Jason Spezza is a better offensive player than Jordan Staal, and I think if healthy, he could have a career year cleaning up against marginal competition on the third line.
Another edge the Penguins could gain by going this route would be if they retained Brandon Sutter and played him on the fourth line where he would be head and shoulders above virtually every other fourth liner in the league.
To obtain Spezza, the Penguins wouldn't have to give up too much either. Recent reports indicate that Senators GM Brian Murray has lowered his price and is now asking for a ready-to-play player of top six quality and then either a prospect or draft pick instead of both.
It might be a crazy idea (certainly the Penguins are not even in the Spezza conversation from what I have heard) but it's something to think about in the abstract. I mean, just how good would a team be if they dressed three #1 centers and a premier #3? Would you even need good wingers? It's entirely conceivable that you could role out four centres of that quality with replacement-level wingers and still be the NHL's highest scoring team.
Crosby-Malkin-Spezza-Sutter: it'd be the best four centres anyone ever iced in regular league competition.
Just something to think about on a slow news day.
Thanks for reading.