Choose Your Own Jets Adventure: Centres

Not to be confused with Ludacris and Lil' Kim asking to kn-know wh-what's your fan-ta-tasy, the Jets Choose Your Own Adventure is a chance to vote on which players should fill in the remaining spots in our forward and defence depth. Part 1, with left wings and an explanation of the metrics I'm using, is here. Part 2, on right wings, is here.

After a week of voting, it looks like you folks believe Nik Antropov, Chris Thorburn, and Spencer Machacek will play the most out of our crop of right wings. Moving on to centre, we have bit of a thicker situation (similar to right wing), with three spots and four candidates. I added one more metric to this group, faceoff win percentage (FO%), as it's something unique and important to this particular position.

Without further ado, the centres...

Alexander Burmistrov

Year	Team	Lg	GP	G	A	Pts	Adj +/-	SOG	Sh%	PIM
2008-09	Ak Bars Kazan	Rus3	34	25	25	50	---	---	---	54
2008-09	Ak Bars Kazan	KHL	1	0	0	0	0	---	---	0
2009-10	Barrie	OHL	62	22	43	65	+4	---	---	49
2010-11	Atlanta	NHL	74	6	14	20	-3	92	6.5	27

Year	Team	Lg	TOI	ESTOI	PPTOI	SHTOI	ZS%	QoC Rk	QoT Rk	FO%
2010-11	Atlanta	NHL	13.18	11.75	0.30	1.13	56.5	13th of 17	12th of 17	41.5

Young, very talented, and with a combination of slick moves and solid passing, Burmistrov has the possibility of fulfilling his #8 selection in the 2010 Draft. That said, he's not there yet, and needs to work on his faceoffs if he wants to stick in the middle.

Jim Slater

Year	Team	Lg	GP	G	A	Pts	Adj +/-	SOG	Sh%	PIM
2008-09	Atlanta	NHL	60	8	10	18	+2	94	8.5	52
2009-10	Atlanta	NHL	61	11	7	18	+4	107	10.3	60
2010-11	Atlanta	NHL	36	5	7	12	+8	53	9.4	19

Year	Team	Lg	TOI	ESTOI	PPTOI	SHTOI	ZS%	QoC Rk	QoT Rk	FO%
2008-09	Atlanta	NHL	11.24	8.57	0.07	2.60	46.7	13th of 17	16th of 17	53.0
2009-10	Atlanta	NHL	12.18	10.50	0.08	1.60	38.4	6th of 16	2nd of 16	58.9
2010-11	Atlanta	NHL	10.56	9.53	0.13	0.90	43.4	14th of 17	3rd of 17	61.5

A proven talent in the faceoff dot, the knock on Slater is that he can't seem to prove himself much away from it. Injuries haven't helped his cause, but at 28 years old time is running out for Slater to show marked progression.

Rick Rypien (RIP, 1984-2011)

Year	Team	Lg	GP	G	A	Pts	Adj +/-	SOG	Sh%	PIM
2008-09	Vancouver	NHL	12	3	0	3	-4	16	18.8	19
2009-10	Vancouver	NHL	69	4	4	8	-12	61	6.6	126
2010-11	Manitoba	AHL	11	0	2	2	-4	17	0.0	9
2010-11	Vancouver	NHL	9	0	1	1	-6	6	0.0	31

Year	Team	Lg	TOI	ESTOI	PPTOI	SHTOI	ZS%	QoC Rk	QoT Rk	FO%
2008-09	Vancouver	NHL	9.32	7.77	0.02	1.53	33.3	15th of 18	14th of 18	50.0
2009-10	Vancouver	NHL	7.22	6.93	0.12	0.17	41.4	19th of 20	20th of 20	43.1
2010-11	Vancouver	NHL	5.10	5.03	0.00	0.07	46.7	24th of 24	20th of 24	64.3

I place Rypien here in homage, given his passing yesterday evening. It was likely that he would have been placed on the 4th line in a role where he excelled, as an energy player and enforcer. In an upcoming Jets annual, I commented that he'd be a Winnipeg fan favourite within the first month of the season (if he wasn't already from his time with the Moose). A tragedy for the Rypien friends and family, a tragedy for his fans present and future...rest in peace, Rick.

Tim Stapleton

Year	Team	Lg	GP	G	A	Pts	Adj +/-	SOG	Sh%	PIM
2008-09	Toronto	AHL	70	28	51	79	+7	193	14.5	26
2008-09	Toronto	NHL	4	1	0	1	-3	9	11.1	0
2009-10	Chicago	AHL	73	30	29	59	+12	170	17.6	18
2009-10	Atlanta	NHL	6	2	0	2	+1	6	33.3	2
2010-11	San Ant./Chi.	AHL	24	9	10	19	+11	69	13.0	4
2010-11	Atlanta	NHL	45	5	2	7	-5	44	11.4	12

Year	Team	Lg	TOI	ESTOI	PPTOI	SHTOI	ZS%	QoC Rk	QoT Rk	FO%
2008-09	Toronto	NHL	15.07	11.90	3.15	0.02	47.4	8th of 20	10th of 20	20.0
2009-10	Atlanta	NHL	11.86	11.73	0.13	0.00	33.3	1st of 16	10th of 16	61.1
2010-11	Atlanta	NHL	11.10	10.65	0.28	0.17	59.5	10th of 17	16th of 17	48.4

A slick little (5'9" [175cm], 182 lb [83kg]) centre who can also play right wing, Stapleton has never had the skill and/or opportunity to hold down an NHL job. In baseball terms, he'd be a "AAAA player", a guy who could do well in the minors but not quite have enough to play big at the highest level. Great for 4th line work, possibly.

Ben Maxwell

Year	Team	Lg	GP	G	A	Pts	Adj +/-	SOG	Sh%	PIM
2008-09	Hamilton	AHL	73	22	36	58	-7	156	14.1	58
2008-09	Montreal	NHL	7	0	0	0	-1	2	0.0	2
2009-10	Hamilton	AHL	57	16	28	44	-3	134	11.9	22
2009-10	Montreal	NHL	13	0	0	0	-3	6	0.0	6
2010-11	Ham./Chicago	AHL	49	11	30	41	-7	151	7.3	32
2010-11	Atlanta	NHL	12	1	1	2	-6	13	7.7	9

Year	Team	Lg	TOI	ESTOI	PPTOI	SHTOI	ZS%	QoC Rk	QoT Rk	FO%
2008-09	Montreal	NHL	9.89	9.58	0.23	0.08	63.6	16th of 18	18th of 18	37.7
2009-10	Montreal	NHL	8.75	8.73	0.02	0.00	58.9	12th of 20	7th of 20	50.0
2010-11	Atlanta	NHL	11.97	11.07	0.20	0.70	61.1	12th of 17	15th of 17	44.4

Maxwell could be in the same boat as Stapleton, only younger (23 years old to Stapleton's 29), and a little better at playmaking. Once again, a guy like him could work on the 4th line, but probably not much higher.

All of the other potential centre prospects simply aren't ready (Eric O'Dell, Mark Scheifele), might never be ready (Riley Holzapfel), or are too old to be prospects and would just be filler (Jason Jaffray, Aaron Gagnon). Granted, that might also be the fate of Maxwell and Stapleton, but they get grandfathered.

Rock the vote.