Canadiens could eye Coyotes centerman as replacement for Kotkaniemi

As everyone knows by now, the Carolina Hurricanes signed restricted free agent forward Jesperi Kotkaniemi to an offer sheet. Should Montreal choose not to match, Carolina will give them a first round pick and third round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft. Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman believes the Canadiens could flip those picks and try to acquire centerman Christian Dvorak.

"I could see Montreal going to Arizona and saying, how would a 1st and 3rd be for Dvorak? Do we have the framework of a deal here?" Friedman said during his 31 Thoughts podcast.

If Montreal doesn't match the offer sheet, they'll have a glaring hole at center. Nick Suzuki will be the team's number one centerman for many years to come, but beyond him you have Jake Evans, Ryan Poehling, and Cedric Paquette. No disrespect to those three players, but none of them are second line centers at the NHL level right now. Adding Dvorak would be huge for Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin.

The Coyotes are building for the future and currently have a boatload of draft picks in 2022 including two firsts and five second round picks. Arizona could view this as an opportunity to add a couple more picks that will be valuable for the future in exchange for the 25-year-old Dvorak.

Dvorak, a native of Palos Heights, Illinois, had 31 points (17 G, 14 A), 12 penalty minutes, and was a -11 in 56 games with the Coyotes during the 2020-21 season.

Friedman on 31TP: "I could see Montreal going to Arizona and saying, how would a 1st and 3rd be for Dvorak? Do we the framework of a deal here?"— NHL Watcher (@NHL_Watcher) August 29, 2021

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