If you were heading into the season believing that Jonathan Drouin will be the first-line center for the Montreal Canadiens, you may have to rethink that position. GM Marc Bergevin was on TSN radio today and told Tony Marinaro that he currently projects Max Domi, Phillip Danault, Tomas Plekanec and Matthew Peca as the four centers for the Canadiens to start the year. Drouin obviously still could end up at the position at some point given Domi’s lack of experience there, but it sounds like he’ll be starting on the wing.
The Canadiens have been searching for center help for quite some time, and though there is help on the way with prospects Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Ryan Poehling and Nick Suzuki—though the latter has played quite a bit of wing as well during his junior career—2018-19 doesn’t look like it will necessarily be any different. For Drouin at least the move might be beneficial, given that he struggled to score last season down the middle with just 13 goals in 77 games.
- The Toronto Maple Leafs meanwhile aren’t handing out roster spots at all to their young players, instead expecting them to earn a role in training camp. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet writes that Mike Babcock expects both Travis Dermott and Andreas Johnsson, who are expected to play big roles on the Maple Leafs going forward, to prove that they deserve spots instead of just acting like they’ve “arrived now.” Many Toronto fans are hoping that Dermott will be part of the solution to their perceived defensive woes this season, but he’ll have to convince his head coach that he’s ready before being handed a full-time job.
- Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion was on CBC radio with Robyn Bresnahan today, speaking about the dilemma he faced with the recent Erik Karlsson situation. Dorion admitted that he knew he couldn’t “get nothing” for Karlsson by watching him walk away in free agency next offseason. Contract negotiations quickly broke down between the two sides this offseason, meaning Dorion felt he “owed it to our fans to tell them what the plan was and before the season started.” The team is quite openly in rebuild mode, and are expected to give plenty of opportunities to young players this season.
I saw something the other day on instagram that was funny and it included Erik Karlsson, and Ottawa being a tire fire.
Thanks for that comment
Domi and Peca on the same team would have been pretty tough to play against in 2004.
The sens are so out of touch with anyone outside the organization. yes the rebuild is the right call but their COO said they did a poll of fans and 75% agree with management. I highly doubt that is the case AND no source of where the poll was or which fans had access was provided.
This front office is extremely out of touch with reality and unfortunately I can see it leading to this teams potential demise. The rebuild is not the problem, the management group leading it is and THAT is why fans are frustrated and not showing up this year.
I am quite shocked that’s the best package Ottawa could get for EK. Maybe if they had allowed eastern conference teams to be considered, the return would have been greater. Hard to rebuild without top draft picks. The biggest mistake management made was keeping the pick used for Tkachuk instead of giving it to Colorado. Hard to imagine the Sens will be a better team this year than they were last year.
As bad as the return for Karlsson was, can you imagine how bad the return would have been if Ottawa had stuck to the whole If-you-want-Karlsson-then-you-gotta-take-Ryan craziness.