Depth up middle central to Giants’ success
Vancouver’s puck-possession game could get boost with improved play in the faceoff dot
Jared Dmytriw is a centre — for now.
The 20-year-old from Craven, Sask., played right wing almost exclusively for the Vancouver Giants last season after coming over from the Red Deer Rebels in a November trade, but he lined up largely in the middle for Red Deer and was slotted there often in minor hockey.
New Giants coach Michael Dyck put Dmytriw at centre for the Western Hockey League team’s opening weekend against the Everett Silvertips, looking to take advantage of his speed and his two-way habits.
Dmytriw had fleet-footed Brayden Watts on one wing and 16-year-old rookie Justin Sourdif on the other. Combinations and roles could change plenty, though, with this year’s Giants. Dyck has probably seven or eight legitimate centres on the roster in his current 15-man forward crew. They could hire a math whiz to figure out all the possible combinations.
Dmytriw took 82 faceoffs in 45 games with Vancouver after taking 267 in 26 games with the Rebels. Newcomers Sourdif, Lukas Svejkovsky and Evan Patrician can all play the middle, giving the Giants more options than one season ago.
“I think centre is a harder position to play. There’s a lot more going on with the defensive responsibilities,” said Dmytriw, who was recently named the Giants’ captain this season, replacing Tyler Benson, who has moved up to the Edmonton Oilers’ farm system.
“You have to support the D-men in your zone. You’re the last guy out of your zone usually, so you have to support your wingers. We’ve got lots of guys that can play centre. I’ve never really been on a team like this before, either.
“There’s always been the guys who are the centre men and it’s been set in stone. It’s good for us. If guys go down with injuries or guys are having an off night even, there are things that coaches can do.”
Dmytriw went 7-for-14 on faceoffs in Saturday’s 3-1 win on the road against the Silvertips. The Giants, as a team, were 32-for-60 that night. Dmytriw was 7-for-13 in the circle in Friday’s season-opening 3-1 triumph over the Silvertips at Langley Events Centre, helping Vancouver to a 30-for-57 team victory on draws.
More guys taking more faceoffs more often would be a plus, one would think. You would think you’d have guys better prepared when a teammate is thrown out of a faceoff circle. Vancouver has shown it could have its troubles defensively. If they win more faceoffs and have the puck more, that’s an obvious way to help alleviate that concern.
“I’ve had teams with this many centres and it’s a lot easier moving centres to wing than from wing to centre,” said Dyck. “This is a nice
problem to have. It’s easier to play on the wall. It’s maybe the easiest position to play.
“We’re going to take a lot of pride on faceoffs. When we were on this weekend, we were hovering above 60 per cent and that’s going to be one of the keys to our possession game.”
Dyck is hesitant to number his lines. He’s staying away from tagging anyone as an “energy line” or a “skill line.
“We wanted to use our depth and wanted to have three lines that could provide a little bit of everything,” he said. “We played three lines a lot and sprinkled in our fourth line and probably more in Everett because it was our second game in two days.”
He admits he put Dmytriw and Sourdif together in a bid to help Sourdif get used to the WHL. He was Vancouver’s first pick, third overall, in the 2017 bantam draft. At 16, he’s in his first year of full-time eligibility in the WHL. Last season, he played four regular-season games, then all seven games of the first-round playoff loss to the Victoria Royals.
“Justin needs some guidance and direction from an older player and JD is the guy to do that,” Dyck said.
“Watts and Dmytriw played together last year and have some chemistry and we gave Sourdif a chance to play with those guys and match their pace and he did that.”