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After years of viewing the centre position as a black hole, the future looks bright for the Canadiens with Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Nick Suzuki and Ryan Poehling.

They are all first-round draft choices and natural centres and, while they bring different skills to the mix, they all possess the potential to thrive at the NHL level.

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The dilemma for head coach Claude Julien is to find enough ice time for each player to develop.

That challenge was brought into focus this week when an injury to Kotkaniemi opened a spot for Poehling, who started the season with the Laval Rocket. Poehling was installed at centre on the third line with Artturi Lehkonen and Paul Byron, although circumstances saw him play what amounted to fourth-line minutes.

Photo by John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette

Julien shortened his bench Tuesday as the Canadiens battled from behind for a win over the Boston Bruins.

On Thursday in Philadelphia, any idea of rolling four lines went out the window when the Canadiens were forced to kill six penalties. That meant Byron and Lehkonen had extra time on the PK, while Poehling sat on the bench.