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Well there's really only one center expected to be available at 4th overall that has that kind of upside (Rossi). Maybe two others if you include Perfetti (who doesn't even play center consistently in the CHL) and Lapierre (who's had about a zillion injuries). Here's the thing with Rossi though. People say he's "two way" as some kind of slight when in reality he's elite in both areas of the game. He led the CHL in points, more points than Lafreniere, more points than Byfield, more points than Perfetti. He's a dominant offensive player. AND his defense is just as good. So are his face offs. So is his special teams play. If he were literally two inches taller he'd be in the running for first overall. He has MUCH greater offensive upside than any center on our team AND he's excellent defensively. Which is why he gets compared to Backstrom a lot. 80+ point playmaker with world class defense is not an unrealistic ceiling for him.

I mean, if you really want to take the position that every NHL amateur scout and Credible Analyst™ believes Rossi is a centerman at the NHL level, more power to you. I'm guessing those people are not all on the same page on the matter. Honestly tho, it doesn't really matter to me. I think Rossi has the potential to be our top centerman if he's a centerman and our top winger if he's a winger. I'm not sure there's enough there in his game to allow him to be a powerhouse NHL producer (keep in mind: he's one of the elder statesemen of this draft class and he played for a very good CHL team this season), but what I like about him is how rounded and mature his game is and how many positive intangibles he seems to bring to the table. Basically, I see Rossi as closer to Ryan O'Reilly (or maybe Brayden Point?) than to Nathan MacKinnon, and I'm totally good with that, and I'd be totally good with having potentially three O'Reilly-esque two-way workhorses in Rossi, Larkin, Veleno. If that's our center group, I wouldn't be too concerned that our center group might not be able to generate offense in enough different ways, as I think there's actually a pretty good variety of strengths and styles there. When I talk about "loading up on Larkins," I'm mostly talking two-way ability. I don't mean I want three of the same player. I'm saying having three guys who can eat brutal minutes would be pretty great, in theory. From what I've seen of Lundell, he's plenty dynamic. I feel that he, like Byfield, hasn't yet realized how good he can be, and that he consciously tried to play conservatively this season because he was a teenaged centerman playing in the Liiga. I wouldn't take Lundell at 4th overall. But it's entirely possible he'd end up being a better NHLer than the guy I'd pick. I'm not convinced there's a whole lot of separation within this 3ish-10ish range.

Vernon played the majority of his career before the DPE, Cujo played 70% on the DPE and Ozzie played almost entirely in the DPE. Of those 3 I Think Vernon and Ozzie are hall worthy, in that order, Cujo not so much... He may get some kudos for the 1996 World Cup and Championships but he didn't win anything.