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Originally Posted by powderjunkie

By 2014, BT inherited a team that seemed to have a pretty strong future down the middle. Monahan with a solid enough rookie year, Backlund took a big step forward, Janko 2 years older (though progress uncertain), Colborne was 24 and started to bloom, Granlund coming off a good season in the A, and a no-brainer pick in Bennett. (perhaps a few other longshots like Jooris and Reinhart in the system, too)

It was all more/less on the right track for a few years after that, though having too many good players at C is the best possible problem to have. In 6+ years, I think the only bullets he has added to the [possible top 6 C] chamber were:

Lazar - reclamation, unlikely to be anything but a winger
Shinkaruk - reclamation, didn't seem to have future at C, either
Dubé - late 2nd round pick
Lindholm - 24, has blown expectations out of the water...still uncertain if he can be a great C or not

Derek Grant - already 25, 3C at best
Nick Shore - already 25, 3C at best
Alan Quine - already 25, 3C at best
I don't think you can count anyone picked after the 3rd round here, either. Pavelski (never a pure C due to roster circumstances), Craig Smith, Grabovski, and Pageau are the only Centres drafted 4th round or later who've had prolonged success as a 1/2/3C since Datsyuk.

Am I missing anyone?

I'm generally a BT booster, but focusing in on this inadequacy really has me questioning it.

I give Treliving a bit of a break at the centre position. It was clear that Monahan was going to at least be a legit second line centre and maybe a top line centre and they just drafted Bennett who for the first two seasons was tracking well as a first line centre so I can understand why he wasn't working too hard to find another young top line centre asset.

But I guess that's why you should always be looking. The saying is you can never have enough good defensemen. The same should be true for centres with top line potential.