NHL Alert: Is Montreal’s Secret Weapon a Left-Handed Center Nobody Saw Coming?

When you peek at the Montreal Canadiens’ roster, one glaring need jumps right out—a reliable left-handed center who can clinch those clutch faceoffs when it truly counts. It’s not just about filling a spot; it’s about adding a player who can shift momentum in those critical moments late in the game or on the penalty kill. Sure, Kirby Dach is slated for the second-line center role, and while he’s got potential, injuries have kept him from blossoming into the player Montreal needs right now. Losing Christian Dvorak, who excelled in winning key faceoffs and took the pressure off teammates like Nick Suzuki, leaves a gap that’s tough to fill. The trade market isn’t exactly brimming with options either—teams like Vancouver and Winnipeg would jump at the chance to snag such a player, making this a tricky puzzle for GM Kent Hughes. If the Canadiens want to push past the pack in the Atlantic Division and become perennial playoff contenders with a real shot at the Stanley Cup, nailing down a complete, trustworthy center who shoots left might just be the cornerstone move they need. LEARN MORE

The Montreal Canadiens need a left-handed center who can win the big faceoffs when called upon

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** NHLRumors.com transcription

“A lot of that is going to depend on how they start this season. You know, when you look at the Atlantic Division, it seems like Toronto, Tampa Bay, Florida, and Ottawa, there might not be that much separating those teams. So where does that leave the rest of the Atlantic Division? It’s going to be an arms race.

And I think when you’re talking about the Montreal Canadiens and their need for a second-line center, it’s not necessarily an indictment at who’s there right now, and chances are it’s going to be Kirby Dach, who starts the season there. Who I’m sure they would like, in a perfect world, to be their second-line center of the future. But is that the best fit for what they need. Kirby Dach has been hampered by injuries, and he hasn’t been able to take that next step forward as a player.

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If you look at how Montreal is going to shape up, they’re going to have Nick Suzuki, who, no doubt, is one of the best two-way centermen in the NHL. And if it’s some combination of Dach, (Alex) Newhook, and Jake Evans. What the Montreal Canadiens are really missing is a left-handed center who you can trust in multiple situations to win key faceoffs and maybe even get up there on the penalty kill. Win big faceoffs late in the game. Win big faceoffs when you need a left-handed shot.

Christian Dvorak moved on. He’s going to the Philadelphia Flyers. They paid him a lot of money because he can do that. The last couple of years, he was 55% last year, 57% two years ago, in the faceoff. He was a guy who would take big faceoff, short-handed, to start overtime. He would take the face off and then get off the ice, so then someone else could come onto the ice, whether it was Cole Caulfield or Nick Suzuki or whoever.

So that is what they are going to be missing now. And if you’re trying to say, Okay, what do the Montreal Canadiens need to turn themselves into a team that makes the playoffs every single year. And then eventually from there, turns into a team that competes for a Stanley Cup, you need to be a complete team down the middle of the ice.

But the marketplace right now would tell you that it’s not easy to acquire a player like that. I can think of two teams right off the top of my head, Vancouver, Canucks, Winnipeg Jets, they would love to add a quote, unquote second line center. It’s just not an easy thing to do right now.

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Kent Hughes has been really good at being calculated when to make the right move at the right time, so he’s not going to do something just to do something. But, if the situation occurs where maybe the Montreal candians aren’t playing well enough, and it’s like they’re not going to tread water in the Atlantic Division, maybe you do have to do something before you really want to.

But no doubt they need to have someone who’s a left-handed shot. Who’s maybe a little bit bigger. Who can win faceoffs. Who can be a trustworthy guy. Who can really let Nick Suzuki kind of alleviate some of the pressure that follows him on a night-to-night basis, and become that true second line center that helps the Montreal Canadiens take that next step as a team.”

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