Eric Hartline-Imagn ImagesThe New York Rangers are trying out a new experiment: slotting Adam Edström at center.
Edström hasn’t played the center position since his U20 days in Sweden before making the leap to the professional level, so why did Mike Sullivan decide to take this gamble?
“We wanted to see what it might look like if Eddy had the capability of playing in the middle,” Sullivan said. “Obviously, if you get a guy that’s 6-7 that has the capacity to play the position, especially in a fourth-line role, he can certainly be hard to play against with his size, his mobility, his reach. He can lean on people.”
In his new role, Edström is still playing on the team’s fourth line, alongside Taylor Raddysh and Jaroslav Chmelař.
Giving Edström an opportunity at center is an enticing possibility for the future, given his 6-foot-8 frame.
The 25-year-year-old forward believes that due to his strong two-way game, the positional switch has been a seamless transition.
“It’s been good,” Edström said. “I’ve been relying a lot on my skating. I feel like the defensive side of my game is a strong suit, so just kind of tapping into that a bit more. I actually like when you're the center, you kind of get that puck a little lower. You can kind of go down a little low and slow and pick up the puck with speed, so I've enjoyed it so far.”
The faceoff circle is where it will be a bit of an adjustment for Edström. Prior to Saturday night, when Edström played in the middle for the first time at the NHL level, he went 2-for-7 in his previous faceoff attempts with the Rangers.
In his first game playing center against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night, he won 1-of-4 of his faceoffs, while winning 1-of-3 on Monday night against the Minnesota Wild.
Sullivan confessed that he “tried to protect” Edström by keeping his line off the ice for defensive-zone draws.
Despite the difficult transition when it comes to faceoffs, Sullivan has been pleased with how this experiment is going thus far.
“It’s a small sample size, but what we have liked is when he gets in the defensive zone, he’s big and strong, he has a long reach, he can lean on people. He is hard to play against by nature of that,” Sullivan said. “That was one of the things we thought about when we decided to try him there. It’s still a small sample size, but the first couple of games he’s played, we think he’s been pretty good.
“I think in the offensive zone, I don’t think there’s a big difference, as far as how we play. The forwards are somewhat interchangeable. You can even say the same thing in the neutral zone. It’s more in the defensive zone in the system that we play, there’s a burden of responsibility that’s a little higher on the center, and it’s a more cerebral position just by nature of some of the reads you gotta make, playing down low in the defensive zone, things of that nature. Based on the first couple of games, he’s been pretty good in our D-zone. He gets plays stopped, he kills plays because of his size.”
Edström has had poor injury luck dating back to last season. In the midst of his rookie campaign last year, when Edström had carved out a permanent bottom-six and was continuing to gain individual momentum, he suffered a season-ending lower-body injury.
This season, Edström sustained yet another lower-body injury in December, which ultimately kept him out of the lineup for over two months.
“You never want to go through injuries, no matter what time of year, but I feel like I've had my share of them in these last two seasons,” Edström emphasized. “Unfortunately, there have been bigger injuries that made me miss a longer stretch of time. I'm crossing my fingers, and I'm doing everything I can to just stay healthy and play hockey.”
Since returning to the Rangers' lineup after being activated off long-term injured reserve, Sullivan has made a conscious effort to give Edström more opportunities in order to allow him to expand his overall game.
First, it came in the form of inserting Edström into a top-six role where he played on a line with Will Cuylle and Vincent Trocheck in a game against the Winnipeg Jets on Mar. 12, scoring a goal and posting a total of 13:45 minutes.
Now, Edström is playing the center position in what could be a stepping stone for his eventual role with the Blueshirts moving into the future.
“I feel like the coaches have trusted me with a lot of confidence, kind of giving me a chance to grow into that role, and I think so far, it’s been good,” Edström said. “It’s a lot of fun. They are putting me in a lot of different spots. Playing top-six minutes was amazing out there. Now that I’m kind of centering my own line with Raddy (Raddysh) and Jaro (Chmelař), I feel like we can kind of grow and be that heavy line to play against and just kind of create a little bit of chaos out there.”
The Rangers’ retooling mindset, with Sullivan looking to give the younger players more leeway, greatly benefits Edström, who continues to develop and still has the potential to be a real impactful player for the franchise down the line.