The Montreal Canadiens spent years trying to acquire talented centers to fill a huge void on their roster. For over a decade, the Habs tried, but failed to build depth down the middle of the ice. Tomas Plekanec was a fixture at this time and provided solid two-way play. He just didn’t have much support.
Once Saku Koivu and Robert Lang left town in 2009, Scott Gomez and Glen Metropolit were brought in to replace them. This went okay for a year, but then Gomez production fell off a cliff and Metropolit signed in Switzerland.