One of the top needs for the Montreal Canadiens this summer was a No. 1 centre, the kind of player many teams desire, but is so hard to acquire. Yet, the Canadiens had blue-chip defence prospect in Mikhail Sergachev available for trade, the kind of asset that is also hard to come by.

It looked like a perfect opportunity to give up a prized possession to get another one in return.

Of course, the Habs used Sergachev to get 22-year-old Jonathan Drouin out of Tampa Bay. And while Drouin is certainly an exciting young talent, and a Francophone to boot, he’s never been a regular centre in the NHL.

Thee has been some speculation on his role with the Canadiens, however. Drouin was a centreman before getting to Halifax in the QMJHL, where he played left wing alongside Nathan MacKinnon for two years. But after the Lightning drafted Drouin third overall in 2013, two spots behind his major junior centreman, they sent him back to Halifax for a season. With MacKinnon sticking with the Avalanche in the NHL, Drouin played a year down the middle for the Mooseheads and put up 108 points in 46 games.

So it’s not that he can’t do it, it’s just been a while since he has with any regularity. But the Habs used their biggest trade chip to get Drouin, and immediately signed him to a six-year, $33 million deal. With the uncertainty at the defence position now, it’s hard to imagine the team opened a roster hole without plugging another in some way. With his history at the position and tremendous offensive upside, there seems to be a growing possibility Drouin will fill the pivotal No. 1 centre role for the Canadiens in 2017-18.

“I’m not nervous about playing centre,” Drouin told CBC Montreal on Monday. “I played there in junior for a full year. Before obviously going to play with Nate in Halifax I was a centreman and it definitely doesn’t make me nervous if that’s the case.”

Some would say that the Habs already had a young player they could have slotted in at centre in Alex Galchenyuk, the third-overall selection of the 2012 draft who played that position his entire career. But Montreal has more often than not used him as a winger and at the team’s end-of-year press conference, GM Marc Bergevin asserted that the 23-year-old seemed a better fit on the flank.

Meanwhile, after trading for and signing Drouin, the GM wasn’t so direct on Drouin’s position, leaving open the very real possibility he will be a centre for the team.

“There’s no doubt we looked at that closely,” Bergevin said of Drouin’s fit down the middle. “At the end of the day, Claude will sit down with Jonathan and a decision will be made on what is best for the organization. But we definitely took that into consideration.”

If Drouin does slot in at centre, the Habs still have Tomas Plekanec and Phillip Danault behind him on the depth chart, neither of whom would be an optimal top-line guy. We may even get to see an intriguing Drouin-Galchenyuk combo, with the players swapping natural positions.

Whatever happens when the puck drops in October, where Drouin plays will be an interesting storyline to monitor through Habs training camp, which opens in mid-September.