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Teams told that the habs doesn’t seek help from the center

 Jennifer Davis
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Teams told that the habs doesn’t seek help from the center
Credit: Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire

This summer, one of Kent Hughes’ objectives will be to look for help on offense to fill an organizational need. Obviously, the draft will be a great way to do this(if Ivan Demidov and/or Cayden Lindstrom are available at No. 5), but the Habs would benefit from getting more than one.

It’s not for nothing that there’s talk of the Habs trading one or more of their many defensemen for reinforcements up front.

Obviously, some names are being bandied about, such as Trevor Zegras and Martin Necas. The question is, what would it cost the Habs?

But it’s also a question of knowing exactly what the Habs are looking for.

And in his piece of the day, David Pagnotta(The Fourth Period) had an interesting tidbit: some teams are currently being told by Kent Hughes that the Tricolore isn’t looking for center help.

Since we know that the club is looking for reinforcements up front, this would mean that they could be looking for more wingers. Right now, the Habs see Nick Suzuki as their first center, they want to give Kirby Dach the chance to be the club’s second center, and Alex Newhook will either wing one of the lines or center the third.

Maybe that’s why we’re mainly looking for wingers: we seem to have a plan at center right now, so we want to fill the other holes at forward.

That said, some teams aren’t buying it. In fact, they want to wait and see what the Canadiens do at the draft, but they believe that Cayden Lindstrom is the Montreal team’s target.

And since he’s a center, that explains why the teams in question have their doubts.

What’s interesting, though, is that the current state of the market suggests that acquiring a center could be easier than getting your hands on a winger. After all, Trevor Zegras plays center, Martin Necas is a natural center (who regularly plays wing in Carolina), Marco Rossi is also a center, and the names of Kent Johnson and Cole Sillinger, two centers, are circulating as targets in Columbus.

There’s also Josh Norris, also a center… but like Pagnotta, I’d have a hard time seeing the Senators trading him within the division.

In reality, it’s always possible to pick up a center and play him on the wing. The Habs did it in the last two years with Dach and Newhook, and there’s nothing to stop them from doing it again this year… but according to the GM (who may be hiding his game), he’s not looking for center help.

It remains to be seen what he’ll be able to do this summer, but David Ettedgui is expecting a big deal for an established top-6 player. A deal that would be much bigger than those involving Dach and Newhook… and possibly cost a first-round pick as well as Adam Engström (and perhaps another player).


In bursts

– It almost makes you wonder if Utah might be willing to overpay for Guhle…

– He’s aging like a fine wine.

– Very nice gesture from Jon Morosi, an American baseball and hockey journalist who tries to speak French when his interlocutor is French-speaking.

– This is going to do Toronto some good.

– Blues school club names coach.

– Young stars shine in current NBA series.

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