Habs need to stop forcing Drouin to be a Centre, he is not one. Play him on the Wing which is natural position and stop with the experiments. Team is rebuilding, that why you have Plekanec again, he is a place holder for a year while you let Suziki and Kotkaniemi develop and tank for Hughes

Drouin is still the most capable player to play center. Actually having a summer to prepare will do him some good. I doubt he will be the long term 1C, though.

Bergevin also mentioned in an interview that he's not going to directly tank the franchise to aquire a *chance* to draft a superstar. Montreal is a young team at it's core, lead by 2 incredible veterans, and we honestly don't *need* Hughes, with our prospects at center right now.

What would do us good, however is draft a player like Philip Broberg or Alex Vlasic, a big physical left shot defensemen who can complement Weber on the top pairing, and round out the defence. We have 15 center prospects, right now.

Drouin is not a capable C, he was 42% on the draw last season, taking second most face-offs on the team getting heavy O-Zone starts while having some pretty bad defensive metrics with how zone start sheltered he was.

Just dont see any good to stifle the most talented forward on the team by trying to force him to play a position that he is unable to take advantage of his skill set at. really no good reason to play him there

To say you dont need Hughes...an elite to generational level talent, come on man, every team in this league could use Hughes, especially the Habs

Of course we'd love to have Hughes.. But to throw away a season just to get a 25% chance at him is not how a hockey team is run.

Drouin is the most trusted forward we have in the lineup currently. I frankly believe he can be a placeholder for now. Danault simply can't. Besides, Drouin put on 15lbs of muscle during the offseason, and towards the back end of the year, he was putting decent offensive numbers on a line with Lehkonen and Gallagher. I guess we just have different views on the team. It's not like Mackinnon is in our pipeline lol.

putting on pounds of muscle doesnt equal a leap in your development. MacKinnon did that one offseason, but he lost his agility with the added weight and within the first month of the season he cut it all.

Just think its a mistake to have Drouin forced to be a C again...if you guys do it will be a rough season for the Habs and I think you have the chance of stunting his progression in this league.