Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens have been calling around the league in search of a true No. 1 center.
Insider Elliotte Friedman said as much this week on 32 Thoughts, describing a front office checking in on just about every team.
"I think they called around to just about every team looking at centers that might or might not be available," Friedman said.
The need is not hard to see. Montreal already has real pieces up front, but a true top-line center is still the missing piece.
Nick Suzuki carried that role brilliantly this past season, posting 29 goals and 72 assists for 101 points over 82 games.
He was even better in the playoffs, piling up 16 points over 19 games as Montreal beat Tampa Bay and Buffalo before Carolina ended the run.
Giving up a top prospect is the real question
That search only means something if Montreal is willing to give up a real asset to land the right center.
Montreal is still considered a team on the rise, with holes in its lineup that a rental or a cheap depth piece would not fully fix.
Trading a real prospect for a center changes the calculus completely, especially for a front office that has leaned on its pipeline to get this far.
Ivan Demidov is the clearest example of why that pipeline matters. He posted 19 goals and 43 assists for 62 points over 82 games in his own rookie season.
Giving up a player like that, or someone close to his level, is the real price of turning this search into an actual trade.
Friedman's full comments on 32 Thoughts lay out exactly how wide this search has been.
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Calling every team is easy. Finding one willing to move a real center, and deciding what Montreal is willing to pay for it, is the actual work still ahead.
Should the Canadiens trade a top prospect like Ivan Demidov for a center?
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