(David Dennis/Icon Sportswire)

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Brad Richardson was back at his customary center position at Tuesday’s practice. That was a major comfort to the Coyotes’ free-agent acquisition.

“I definitely feel more confortable at center and prefer it but if I had had to play wing so be it,” Richardson said. “At one point, I was practicing with (Martin) Hanzal and (Mikkel) Boedker so if you move up a line there’s nothing wrong with that either.”

When 2015 first-round pick Dylan Strome was still in camp last week with only two more cuts to make, the possibility existed that Richardson would move to the wing.

“When you look at his past he hasn’t been a solid centerman,” coach Dave Tippett said. “He’s played some wing. He’s bounced around.”

When Richardson signed a three-year, $6.25 million deal in the offseason, however, he did so with the understanding that he would be a center. When asked in camp about the possibility of playing wing, Richardson didn’t sound happy about it, but he said Tuesday that it would have made sense to keep Strome at center if he had stayed.

“For a kid like that, if he’s here, you have to keep him at his position and I understood that,” he said. “You don’t go moving your top pick to a new position, but I also knew that things change so much during the season that I was probably going to move around anyway.”

For the time being, Tippett has Richardson in between right wing Shane Doan and left wing Kyle Chipchura.

“He’s a quick player with kind of a tenacity and intensity,” Tippett said. “He’s a real responsible centerman. There’s a lot of the game that is played below the hashmarks and he’s a guy who can go down and play that at both ends.”

Richardson is coming off offseason ankle surgery, but he says he is feeling no ill effects from that procedure. He did miss some time in camp with a nagging injury, leading Tippett to call him a work in progress, but Richardson is intrigued by the opportunity to play with Doan.

“He’s always responsible, he’s in the right spots and he talks a lot out there and that helps a centerman when you know where he’s going to be,” Richardson said. “With (training) camp, it always takes a while for you get a sense of who you’re with and how you want to play together, but I think I’m really going to enjoy playing with Shane.”

Richardson admits he will also enjoy playing center.

“My skating ability is huge and at center you’re skating a lot,” he said. “You have to keep your feet going while you’re reading plays. You’re coming back and breaking out with the defensemen and you’re also moving the puck down the ice.

“It’s just a position I’ve played since I was a kid so you get comfortable in your reads on the ice and everything that goes a long with the position.”

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