According to Dany Dubé, the Habs need a center like Sam Bennett

Jonathan Di Gregorio
According to Dany Dubé, the Habs need a center like Sam Bennett
Credit: Peter Joneleit/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

As we know, the Canadiens need a second-line center.

In fact, that's currently the missing piece the Habs need to truly be among the teams contending for the top honors.

Dany Dubé discussed the situation at center for the Habs in an article on TVA Sports, and now that Nick Suzuki has cemented his status as the league's top defensive center by winning the Selke Trophy, Montreal needs a center who excels at both ends of the ice, like Sam Bennett.

According to Dubé, Suzuki is comparable to Aleksander Barkov, who won the Selke three times between 2021 and 2025, and the Canadiens need to find their Bennett to complement their captain's play.

Bennett isn't necessarily the most productive center in the regular season—he just had his best season with 58 points, including 26 goals—but he brings physicality and is reliable in his zone.

And in the playoffs, when the work of the top line—which is more closely scrutinized—becomes more difficult, the Ontario native really takes his game to the next level to step up for his captain.

In fact, during the Panthers' last Stanley Cup victory in 2025, Bennett tallied 22 points—including 15 goals—in 23 games, earning him the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.

That's the kind of performance the Habs would have needed this year to go further and build on Ivan Demidov's work.

It would also have helped generate more offense in the first round, as the Lightning completely shut down our top line at five-on-five.

However, we've also seen how important it is to neutralize the opponent's offense in the playoffs, and that's where a rugged, versatile center could be more useful to the Canadiens than a center focused primarily on offense—players who often tend to underperform in the playoffs.

And the good news is that a player with this type of profile, whose name has recently been linked to Montreal, might be available: Vincent Trocheck.

The Rangers center has scored at least 50 points in each of the last five seasons; he is a physical presence and plays responsibly in both zones. Furthermore, during the 2024 playoffs (his team's last), he tallied 20 points, including eight goals, in 16 games.

Trocheck's contract is very reasonable, with three years remaining at an average salary of $5.652 million per year, and at 32 years old, he doesn't represent a major risk for the Habs.

Trocheck would therefore be a genuinely interesting option for the Habs, and I actually discussed the cost of acquiring him a little less than a month ago.


In a nutshell

– So close to the goal.

– Who will win the next Calder?

– What a performance!

– Banner raising.

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