At first, he was asked to play left wing.
No problem said Tobias Rieder, a left-handed forward.
Then, right wing.
Sure, why not. If it meant a regular spot in the Calgary Flames lineup, the 26-year-old native of Landshut, Germany, obliged.
What about penalty killing? Well, that’s what they were getting when they inked Rieder to a one-year deal as a free agent in the fall, a player who could handle minutes on the penalty kill. So, of course.
Then, it should come as no surprise that, for the third game this season — Thursday’s home clash against the Montreal Canadiens — Rieder was skating at centre.
“Yeah, I’ve played every position so far this year, now,” he said with a chuckle. “Except for defence.”
And goaltender, if we’re being accurate.
But, at the centre position, there’s familiarity.
It was a role he used to play in the Ontario Hockey League with the Kitchener Rangers for half a season, five to 10 games in the American Hockey League, and one period at the National Hockey League level during his second year in the Show when he was with the Arizona Coyotes.
That experience, coupled with the fact that Rieder has been playing with confidence for the last month or so, was encouraging enough for interim head coach Geoff Ward to test him out — and see what happens.
“He certainly has the feet to be able to cover the ice necessary to play as a centre,” Ward said prior to Thursday’s game. “And he’s got the brains. He can read the game really well. He knows where to put himself to support pucks. He can use his speed from underneath. So, for us, we felt there were a lot of advantages to putting him back there. I think he feels like his transition back to centre has been quicker than maybe he would have originally thought.
“So, all of those things made it attractive to put him there and we like what we saw.”
Against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, he had an assist and played 12:30 of ice time in the team’s 4-1 loss. In the circle, he also went two-for-six, going up against Jared McCann, Joseph Blandisi, and Teddy Blueger.
That, of course, is the largest adjustment for Rieder: wrapping his head around the art of taking a draw, along with the planning and the finesse involved in it.
“The biggest thing is face-offs,” he said. “it’s hard, especially if you go up against someone who has been taking face-offs their whole career. And then I go in there. So, it’s a little bit of luck. A little bit of strength. And technique. It goes quick — sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t.
“Those guys have done it their whole career and they’re really good over a long period of time. And, then, you get in there. I don’t know — I haven’t taken too many face-offs as a winger. So, it’s difficult.”
Prior to Tuesday’s game against the Penguins, Rieder played centre against the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 7 when Mark Jankowski was out of the lineup. He went two-for-six and had an assist in the 4-3 Flames win, playing a total of 7:51 of ice-time.
“It hasn’t been too bad, to be honest,” Rieder said. “Obviously the game is a little different from centre ice. But I’ve played it before and I feel like every winger in this room could be thrown in the middle and have a couple practices and a couple of games and be right into it. It wasn’t too big of a switch.”
Heading into Thursday’s game, which he started with Sam Bennett and Michael Frolik, Rieder was enjoying his finest stretch of hockey in years which has seen him score once and nab four assists in seven games.
It’s been a long road back to a role like this, considering he finished the 2018-19 season without a single goal and was a healthy scratch seven times earlier this year and was dispatched to the minors (briefly).
“I said it before, when you play with a lot of confidence, you’re a different player,” he said. “Then, you feel like you’re getting the bounces, you’re getting lucky, pucks are going in for you. Plays you make that usually might not work out, they work out.
“You feel good about your game and that’s when you play better, too.”
The coach agrees.
Ward also pointed out how Rieder has had to reinvent himself throughout his career and the Flames, at the moment, are reaping the benefits.
“He’s versatile,” Ward said. “I think what happens is whatever level of hockey you get to, you have to change your game a little bit in order to keep progressing. And he’s been willing to make the changes. That adds to what he can bring to the table as a player for us. That allows him to expand his role. And that’s really what we want to challenge our players with.
“Once they get here and arrive, we want them to challenge and expand their roles and so that they can do more things for us.”
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