The Montreal Canadiens are marred in a disastrous season. The Habs will not make the playoffs for the second time in three seasons. While much of the criticism of the Canadiens this season has been focused on Marc Bergevin‘s reworked defence, there is still the long-standing issue at centre ice. With five days until the trade deadline, the Montreal Canadiens need a plan for centre ice.
Montreal Canadiens Need A Plan For Centre Ice
The Canadiens are expected to move long-time centre Tomas Plekanec at the trade deadline. Even if Plekanec is retained, he is a free agent at the end of the season. While the Canadiens can re-sign him, Plekanec is 36 next year and his game is in sharp decline. He is not a long-term fix. The reality of the situation is that Plekanec would simply add depth to the position and not improve the situation. Giving them much-needed depth and more of what they already have. More players trying to adjust to the centre game. The Canadiens desperately need to add two top centres to their roster in order to make a difference.
Habs Depth
Presently, the Canadiens only have one natural centre signed for next season, Byron Froese. Phillip Danault is a restricted free agent. The smart money is on Danault being re-signed. So that gives the Habs two centres. Unfortunately, Danault and Froese are bottom six forwards. Other restricted free agents, the Habs need to make a decision on are Jacob de La Rose and Logan Shaw. Unfortunately for the Habs neither has really proven to be much more than depth players.
Jonathan Drouin is signed, but he is a natural winger, who has struggled mightily this season to adjust to the position. If the Canadiens hope to get the most out of Drouin, they would be smart to move him back to the wing. A position in which he can be his most effective. Bergevin said in a January 7th press conference that in an ideal world (See: the Habs have a number one or two centre) Drouin would be on the wing. The long-term plan cannot be for Drouin to continue to learn the position at the NHL level.
Andrew Shaw has shown he is more than capable in the faceoff circle and has played some centre. The thing is, Shaw was brought in to play on the boards. Having him play in the middle of the ice takes away one of the strengths of Shaw’s game. Again, Shaw has been forced to play down the middle because of the Habs deficiency at the position and the organization’s lack of trust in other players.
The Galchenyuk Situation
Alex Galchenyuk was drafted to be the Habs top centre. Unfortunately, the Canadiens completely bungled his development by constantly yo-yo-ing him throughout the lineup. Still, when Galchenyuk does play down the middle he tends to play his best. Unfortunately for Galchenyuk, he struggled to recover from an injury last year and seemed to have the organization give up on him. Recently a report surfaced that Marc Bergevin has let it be known to other General Managers that Galchenyuk is available through a trade. Equally frustrating for most fans is that the same report suggests that Bergevin has stated Andrew Shaw is unavailable.
Word from other GMs apparently is Shaw is not available for a trade but Galchenyuk is available for a trade.
Extremely troubling. #OnVerra— Brian Wilde (@BWildeRecrutes) February 20, 2018
This season has been especially frustrating because the Habs have had to deal with injuries, yet the team refuses to give Galchenyuk a prolonged look at centre ice. Even now, with the season lost, Galchenyuk is (essentially) the only player the Habs won’t try down the middle. Galchenyuk even has shown some chemistry with Drouin but the Canadiens won’t play Galchenyuk at centre and Drouin on the wing.
The Off-Season Plan?
As it stands now, the Canadiens centre depth is Drouin, Shaw, Danault, and Froese. That is not an especially strong group of centres. So, for the seventh off-season in a row, Marc Bergevin needs to upgrade the Canadiens centres. While the Canadiens should take a long-term approach, if the team wants to return to relevance, they need an immediate upgrade. Contrary to Marc Bergevin’s insistence, trading for a number one centre is possible, but he has not proven he is capable of pulling the trigger, so that leaves free-agency.
Free Agency
Using free agency to improve the team can turn things around quickly, if you land the right player. This off-season the prized possession is John Tavares. He is a bonafide number one centre. He will obviously be at the top of Marc Bergevin’s wish list. However, Tavares is at the top of almost every team’s wish list. That is the issue with free-agency, there are no guarantees. Another thing to consider is players like Tavares tend not to change teams through free agency. He is the face of the New York Islanders and there is a very real possibility he stays put. Steven Stamkos was in a similar situation and he tested the waters, but he ended up re-signing with Tampa Bay.
Behind Tavares, the free agent centre’s aren’t going to move the needle. Joe Thornton, Paul Stastny, and Henrik Sedin are the next best options. Thornton and Sedin are both in the twilight of their careers at 38 and 37 years old respectively. Both are long-serving members of their teams. While any of these players would be an upgrade, they are all past their primes. Stastny, 32, is probably the next best option for the Habs. Unfortunately, Stastny has not cracked 20 goals or 50 points since 2012-13.
The dangers of free agency is losing out completely. Last season, Bergevin wanted to bring in Joe Thornton but he missed. He also got caught playing chicken with Alexander Radulov and Andrei Markov. Unfortunately, Bergevin has no backup plan, unless people think Ales Hemsky and Mark Streit are suitable replacements.
Prospects
The Habs have some interesting prospects at the centre position. Jake Evans is graduating from Notre-Dame this year and should look to make the jump to pro hockey next season. Ryan Poehling, the Habs first round pick in 2017, looks to be an exciting prospect as well. The unfortunate reality of this situation is these players are at least two years away. That is not to say one of the prospects can’t make the jump, but it’s not something teams can bank on.
The Draft
Due to the draft lottery, it’s had to know where the Canadiens will pick. As it stands right now, the Canadiens would be picking fourth overall. The fourth pick should land the Habs an exciting prospect. Unfortunately, there are no centres among the top prospects. There are several centres projected for the first round, but (as of now) they are all outside the top 10. There is no doubt that the Canadiens need to improve their organizational depth at the position because their cupboard is pretty bare.
The Plan
Who know’s what Marc Bergevin’s plan is. In his six years, he has not shown the ability to improve the Canadiens biggest weakness, so why should people think he will start now? The problem is, the Canadiens went from being weak at the position to the worst in the league. With the way things are shaping up for next year, it will only be worse. If the plan is to rebuild rather than rest or retool, than Bergevin, along with Canadiens owner Jeff Molson, would be wise to follow the example of the New York Rangers and let their fans know the plan.
If Bergevin’s plan is to throw money at John Tavares in free agency and hope that it all works out, then he is looking for a miracle. Montreal has never been good at attracting high-end free agents to sign, but under Bergevin, it’s been especially bad. If Bergevin is going to put all of his egg in the Tavares basket, he needs a backup plan. Signing free agents is not his strong suit. Fans and media saw last year, Bergevin struck out and was left empty handed with no high-end free agents and a ton of cap space. The results this year speak for themselves.
The sad reality is Bergevin probably has no solid plan to fix the centre ice position. Bergevin will say he tried and then complain that his job is difficult. He will say something about Carey Price and that the team was sunk by injuries and a slow start but this is a really good team. He will ignore his own responsibility in creating the current mess that is the Montreal Canadiens and shift the blame somewhere else. Bergevin will try to distract from the real issue, that he isn’t good enough to make this team better.
