Dominique Ducharme has revealed the identity and order of his center players for this year!
Montreal Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme discussed some hot topics during an interview delivered to 91.9 sports with Martin Lemay this afternoon. He talked about his center line, Jonathan Drouin and Jesse Ylonen, in part.
Ducharme was very clear on who his center players are for this year. He also named a specific order of his roster. According to him, Nick Suzuki, Christian Dvorak, Jake Evans, Ryan Poehling and Cedric Paquette will be the Habs centers this fall.
An interesting fact? Poehling was named before Paquette. With a statement like that, we shouldn't see Poehling in Laval this year, unless we have some bad luck. Also forget about Mathieu Perreault at the center position.
When asked again about Jonathan Drouin, Ducharme revealed a few more details on the matter. The two men have known each other for a very long time, so Ducharme knew something was wrong with Jo Drouin in the spring. The head coach is obviously happy that his protégé is doing well right now.
Jesse Ylonen recently refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine, which could complicate his development in the coming year. He will most likely not be able to play in the Laval Rocket games in the United States. Ducharme mentioned that the Canadiens' medical team was closely monitoring Ylonen's file. It's a rather nebulous situation considering that Ylonen is the only player on the team who is not vaccinated.
What will the Habs do with prospect Jesse Ylonen? Will the organization decide to send him back to Finland to continue developing his game? We'll know more soon, that's for sure.
