If you’ve been paying attention to the many, many moves made by Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving over the past few months, you’ve probably noticed that the Flames have more forwards with National Hockey League experience than they did awhile ago. And that depth has given the Flames some lineup options they didn’t have previously, particularly up the middle.
In 2019-20, the Flames used four guys as their primary centres: Sean Monahan, Mikael Backlund, Derek Ryan and Mark Jankowski, with Sam Bennett and Elias Lindholm used here and there.
With wingers Josh Leivo, Joakim Nordstrom and Dominik Simon added to the roster, Treliving noted that part of the motivation behind these moves were to give them the flexibility to use Lindholm up the middle.