If John Lennon played hockey: center, rated 82

John Lennon as a hockey player: scouting report

John Lennon plays center, and he plays it as a creator. As a Liverpool teenager he formed the Quarrymen, the group that grew into the Beatles once Paul McCartney and George Harrison joined, which makes him the original line builder of the most famous band in history. Passing is one of the two best parts of his card, so he wants the puck in the middle of the ice, where he can choose between three options and pick the one nobody else saw.

His best mark is goaltending, which describes a center who reads the game from the back end, sees the whole ice at once and knows where the danger is coming from. Songs like Strawberry Fields Forever and Imagine came from someone who looked at things from an unusual angle, and on the ice that becomes the backdoor feed or the drop pass into an empty slot. He was also a writer and artist whose first book of drawings and wordplay, In His Own Write, came out in 1964, so his playmaking has a mischievous streak. His skating is good enough to carry the puck through the neutral zone, and his defense is solid.

Physical play is the weakest part of his game, and his shooting is modest, so he sets up far more than he scores. Give him a big winger to win battles and a sharp finisher to convert his passes. Goalie is a strong second spot, and right wing is a fallback. If Paul McCartney is also on your board, the old songwriting partners make a natural pairing, with one of them moved to the wing. Draft Lennon as a creative second line center, give him freedom in the offensive zone and let him invent plays.

Plays like A creative center who sees the play from the back end

Put John Lennon in your lineup

8 rolls, a starting six and a bench, 82 games. Can you go 82-0? Free, no account.