The Blackhawks have a lot of options down the middle

On a recent episode of "Powers and Laz", a podcast hosted by Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus of The Athletic, Powers suggested the Blackhawks may look to rookie Roman Kantserov as the team's top line center to start the season. If this is the case, then the Blackhawks have some tough decisions to make.

The Blackhawk's center dilemma

For the large majority of last season, Connor Bedard and Frank Nazar were the Blackhawks top two centers. With both players missing time due to injury, head coach Jeff Blashill had to get creative. Forwards Oliver Moore, Ryan Greene, Ryan Donato, and, at the end of the year, Anton Frondell all saw plenty of time down the middle.

Greene and Donato are natural centers and Moore looked far better at center than he did on the wing. Kantserov was his club's number one center all of last season; and Frondell played the majority of his 12 NHL games last season down the middle. General manager Kyle Davidson also stated publicly this summer that they intend to try Bedard, Frondell, and Nazar at center this season.

If this is the case, then the Blackhawks need to figure out sooner rather than later who is a true center, and who is best suited for the wing.

Now, having too many centers is a really good problem to have. It is far easier to turn a center into a winger than vice versa.

In my opinion, Bedard is the only true center on this roster. Everyone else can fall into place as the season goes on. With Bedard up top, the Blackhawks will have six other players to fill the final three center spots.

The Blackhawks aren't yet in a position to start spreading out all of their talent, and putting Bedard, Nazar, and Frondell on separate lines would be doing just that. At this point in the rebuild, the best players need to be in the top-six. That includes Bedard, Nazar, Frondell, and Kantserov.

Of course, chemistry is going to play a part in line combinations. Blashill is a firm believer in thinking in pairs rather than trios. Find two guys who play really well together on each line, and fill in the gaps as needed.

At this point, I believe only one of Nazar, Frondell, and Kantserov should be playing center in the top-six, with the other two on the wings. Allow Moore, Greene, and Donato to fight it out in the bottom six.

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