NHL analyst certain that Canadiens will miss Christian Dvorak after signing with Flyers

Christian Dvorak signed a one-year, $5.4 million contract with the Philadelphia Flyers that will reunite him with his previous head coach at the Arizona Coyotes, Rick Tocchet. He is expected to provide some depth and offense as a bottom-six centerman.

Dvorak recorded 12 goals and 21 assists for 33 points last season with the Montreal Canadiens. His 6-foot-1 frame stood out in the Habs lineup, which was filled with short and fast players. Thus, while mostly being used in the fourth line, Dvorak contributed to the team's defense.

Dvorak is expected to be trusted in the Flyers' penalty kill. He was the 21st best in the NHL last season with a 55.8% faceoff win percentage, just 0.3% behind Philadelphia's highest, Sean Couturier, who came 18th. He was deployed in the second penalty kill unit alongside Josh Anderson.

Dvorak will also add experience to the Flyers squad, needing insurance to back up young forwards like recently acquired Trevor Zegras. According to NHL analyst E.J. Hradek, the Habs are likely to miss him because he was a unique factor in the high-flying team.

"Dvorak will be a good three," Hradek said on Monday's edition of NHL Tonight (Timestamp: 2:24). "They’ll miss him in Montreal because he was on the penalty kill there. That’s a younger, smaller team. He is a bigger, stronger guy. They’ll miss him in Montreal.

"I think he’ll be a help for the Flyers, and I’ll be very interested to see if he decides to stay there long-term or if he has a big year and maybe does something else. Because again, centermen are hard to find."

NHL analyst worried for Canadiens' penalty kill without Christian Dvorak and other pieces

Along similar lines to E.J. Hradek, TSN analyst Frankie Corrado expressed his concern about the Montreal Canadiens' penalty kill. Apart from Dvorak, the team also had to let go of Joel Armia to free agency, and veteran David Savard hung up his skates following their exit from the playoffs.

"The only worry I have about the Montreal Canadiens as of right now is who’s going to replace the big minutes on the penalty kill that they had last year. David Savard, Joel Armia and Christian Dvorak all out the door," Corrado said on TSN's SportsCentre on Friday (Timestamp: 00:15).

"They need three prominent pieces to play penalty kill minutes because that was a big strength of their team last year."

The Habs killed 208 penalties last season, earning an 80.9% percent efficiency rate, which ranked them ninth in the league. They are expected to push players like Alexandre Carrier, Mike Matheson and Kaiden Guhle into these roles.