Center player ratings: Kirby Dach overlooked by The Athletic

The Habs need help at center, but also on the wing. He needs help on the attack, in fact.

However, the needs are different depending on the timeline used. In the short term in the NHL, it’s mainly on the wing that the club wants to strengthen, to give Kirby Dach some ammunition on the top-6.

But in the longer term, this is where the club will want to add to its depth at center. It’s the most pressing need for next week’s draft (it’s becoming increasingly clear), and we can expect the Habs to draft a lot of centers at the end of the month.

But does this mean that everyone sees the top of the Habs’ center pyramid as perfect? Not necessarily.

Sean Gentille and Dom Luszczyszyn, who work for The Athletic, have ranked the center players of the various clubs. The Oilers, for example, are in first place. #McDavid #Draisaitl

You have to go all the way down to 26th to find the Habs in the rankings. That means it’s pretty low.

What we note is that the guys gave Nick Suzuki a good grade, but that it’s afterwards that he lacks help. They say the Habs need a franchise talent at center or top-6.

The problem is that the Habs don’t have anyone behind them to change everything.

If the Habs want to take the next step, they’ll have to do better than Alex Newhook, Jake Evans and Christian Dvorak. – Jean Gentille and Dom Luszczyszyn

If the guys didn’t trust Kirby Dach because of his health, for example, it would have been defensible. But in this case, he wasn’t even named in the text.

And yet, we know that the Habs have a lot of faith in him. Kent Hughes believes he was their best player at the 2023 camp.

We’re talking about the same Kent Hughes who, at the end of the year, urged Kirby Dach to try to steal Nick Suzuki’s #1 center chair since that’s how a team progresses.

So in my opinion, the Habs are above 26th on this one. There’s still work to be done in terms of depth (both for the bottom-6 and to compensate for a possible Dach injury), but it’s off to a good start.