The Montreal Canadiens had a dearth at center ice for many years. For several years we were traded to David Desharnais centering the first line, though it was always unlikely he would score more than 55 points in a given season. Still, he was the best option the team had down the middle.
Marc Bergevin finally attempted to rectify this in the past few years, though it came with mixed results. He signed Tomas Plekanec for too much money for a year or two too long and traded for Jonathan Drouin hoping he could somehow just switch from left wing to center at the NHL level without and trouble.