Second center: Michael Hage could move in a trade, but not David Reinbacher

This summer, Kent Hughes’ mission #1 will be to get a second center. With the club ready to move to the next level and Ivan Demidov arriving in town, it will take help behind Nick Suzuki.

The CH, sooner or later, will no longer have to rely on just one trio. They will need a second center to get there… and no, Kirby Dach can’t be the solution.

The big question, however, is how this will happen. Seeing the GM say he would prefer to use the pieces he already has to improve the team this summer, rather than overpaying on the free agent market, gives an indication of the strategy that will be employed.

But clearly, it will cost a lot. And today, on the airwaves of BPM Sports, Mathias Brunet talked about all this… and he opened the door to seeing Michael Hage be part of that transaction.

However, forget about David Reinbacher: the journalist is categorical that Reinbacher is not going anywhere.

According to a tweet from BPM Sports, Kent Hughes is preparing a big transaction to get a second center this summer. It’s impossible for David Reinbacher to be sacrificed, but Logan Mailloux or Michael Hage could be sacrificed, according to Mathias Brunet.

We know that to give, you have to receive… and Hage, as promising as he is, could be the piece that would encourage a team to let go of a quality center. We can think that in a few years, he might become a top-6 center himself… but the CH needs more immediate help at center.

No one wants to see Hage, a highly promising prospect who dreams of playing for the Canadiens, be traded. However, it’s not a package including Joshua Roy and a 2nd-round pick that will bring in a real top-6 center: let’s recall that the Sabres wanted Cole Caufield or Juraj Slafkovský for Dylan Cozens.

However, Brunet brings up another interesting name in the discussion: Logan Mailloux. He claims that some NHL GMs still see Mailloux as a worthy prospect… and he could be part of the solution in all this.

This is not the first time the idea has circulated… but it will take a GM who is willing to take a chance on Mailloux in return for a top-6 center. Do those GMs still exist?

This will undoubtedly be the topic of the offseason for the Canadiens, who desperately need help behind Nick Suzuki right now. Let’s see how the management will try to fix this.

Talking about all this, it’s interesting to see Michael Hage being the most popular option.

According to a tweet from David Ettedgui, this summer, the Canadiens could push a team to give up an excellent young #2 center to fill their crying need. What would you sacrifice to make this transaction happen?

The interference on the goalkeeper is still being discussed.

According to a tweet from Sportsnet, with the playoffs approaching, the NHL wants to ensure that GMs understand how certain challenges work, with the contentious goaltender interference taking center stage.

The little brother of Macklin Celebrini is not bad either, according to a tweet from BarDown. Macklin Celebrini’s younger brother RJ scores the game winner for the AAA Flyers in the third period of the HPL Hockey Provincial Championship Game.