Hockey is a glitchy game. It’s a high-speed collision of physics and bad luck, played by people who treat their dental records as optional suggestions. Right now, the Montreal Canadiens are the NHL’s equivalent of a legacy software company trying to rewrite its entire codebase while the server is still running. It’s messy. It’s expensive. And Alex Newhook just finished his mandatory cooling period on the Injured Reserve.

Newhook is coming back from a high-grade ankle sprain that sidelined him for ten weeks. In the tech world, we’d call this a hardware failure. In Montreal, it’s just Tuesday. The question isn't whether he’s ready—the doctors cleared the ticket—but where you plug a $2.9 million-a-year asset into a lineup that is currently held together by vibes and Nick Suzuki’s sheer force of will.

Let’s talk about the cost of entry. General Manager Kent Hughes didn't get Newhook for free. He traded the 31st and 37th overall picks to Colorado for him. That’s premium capital. In a rebuild, those are the picks you use to find the next franchise cornerstone, not a middle-six reclamation project who couldn't find a permanent home in Denver. So, the friction here is obvious: Newhook has to be "the guy" somewhere, or that trade starts looking like a massive overpayment for a fast skater with a high ceiling and a low floor.

The instinct is to shove him back into the center spot. It makes sense on a whiteboard. With Kirby Dach’s knee currently in a million pieces and Sean Monahan shipped off to Winnipeg for a first-rounder, the Canadiens have a gaping hole down the middle. But playing Newhook at center is like trying to run a high-end graphics suite on an integrated chip. He’s fast, sure. But his faceoff percentage is a dismal 46 percent. He gets bullied in his own end. He’s a transition player, not a defensive anchor.

Putting him at center might fill a hole, but it kills his output. It’s a classic management mistake: prioritizing the needs of the system over the capabilities of the hardware.

The smart move? Put him on the wing. Specifically, slot him next to Alex Newhook’s fellow "project," Joshua Roy, or perhaps try to ignite a spark with Joel Armia. The Canadiens have finally found a top line that doesn’t look like a disaster—Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovský are finally clicking. Slafkovský, in particular, has stopped looking like a confused teenager and started looking like the power forward he was drafted to be. You don't touch that line. You don't even look at it.

That leaves the second line. Newhook belongs on the left wing. Let him use that explosive speed to back defenders off. Let him enter the zone with the puck instead of chasing it. If you force him to play the 200-foot game of a center, you’re just going to burn him out. He’s a specialist. Use him like one.

But here’s the trade-off. If Newhook plays wing, who plays center? Jake Evans? He’s a career fourth-liner being asked to do too much. Brandon Gignac? He’s a nice story, but he’s not a solution. The roster is a series of bottlenecks. By solving the Newhook problem, you exacerbate the "lack of depth" problem. It’s a zero-sum game played on ice.

Head coach Martin St. Louis loves to talk about "concepts" and "reading the game." It’s very Silicon Valley. It sounds great in a post-game scrum, but at some point, the concepts have to translate into goals. Newhook had seven goals in 23 games before his ankle gave out. That’s a 25-goal pace. For a team that historically struggles to find the back of the net, those numbers are the only metrics that actually matter.

The Canadiens are currently in that awkward middle phase of a rebuild where they aren't bad enough to guarantee a top-three pick, but they aren't good enough to sniff the playoffs. It’s the "uncanny valley" of sports management. Every decision now is about asset management. Newhook isn't just a player; he’s a data point. If he returns and fails to produce because he’s mismanaged in the lineup, the "Hughes is a genius" narrative starts to fray at the edges.

He needs to be on the wing. He needs power play time. He needs to be protected from the heavy defensive starts that will inevitably crush his confidence. You don't buy a Ferrari and then complain that it can't haul lumber.

So, Newhook returns. The fans will cheer. The jersey sales will tick up. But as he steps back onto the Bell Centre ice, the underlying problem remains. You can optimize the lineup all you want, but you can't fix a structural deficit with one returning winger.

How much longer can "potential" serve as a substitute for a winning record?