Montreal Canadiens Trading Alexander Romanov For Kirby Dach All About Upside

The Montreal Canadiens pulled off a couple of huge trades early in the 2022 NHL Draft. If everyone in the building was not surprised enough at Juraj Slafkovsky being taken first overall, they were falling out of their seats when the first two trades were announced.

With the festivities being held in the Bell Centre in Montreal, the tension was palpable when Gary Bettman stepped to the podium and said he had two trades to announce that both involved the Montreal Canadiens.

After waiting for the loud chorus of boos to subside, Bettman said that Alexander Romanov was traded with the 98th overall pick to the New York Islanders for the 13th overall pick. The Canadiens then traded the 13th overall pick with the 66th overall pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for Kirby Dach.

So, essentially, the Habs gave up Romanov, the 66th and 98th picks and got Dach in return. Romanov is a 22 year old defenceman who appeared to be climbing the depth chart last season. There were a few games late in the year where he was the team’s leader in time on ice which was a long way from being a frequent healthy scratch in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

But he wasn’t perfect. While Romanov captured out attention with some punishing hits and physical play, he had limitations, mostly offensively. While others saw their untapped offensive potential arrive when Martin St. Louis stepped behind the bench, Romanov scored six points in 37 games under the new bench boss.

And that’s fine, he is a young defenceman and it is not his style to be an offensive minded defender. Teams need physical blue liners who eat minutes, and Romanov sure did that under St. Louis. He played over 20 minutes in all but two games with St. Louis as coach and reached the 25 minute plateau on three occasions late in the season, including a season high 27:16 vs the Toronto Maple Leafs.

But, it appears his limit is a physical, defensive defenceman who doesn’t get the puck up ice in the most consistent way. He will never run a power play and just hasn’t shown to be an offensive contributor at all. At best, he looks to be a second pairing shutdown defender for the next decade.

Again, nothing wrong with that. It is actually just the type of defenceman that the previous Habs regime would covet. But NHL teams need to move the puck up ice from defencemen to forwards to create offence and Romanov doesn’t do that.

So, they traded him for Dach who is far from a finished product himself. Dach is actually a year younger but has played three NHL seasons already. He has sputtered a bit in Chicago, but who hasn’t in the past three years? Well, Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat I guess.

But Dach has scored just 59 points in 152 career games so far. He was probably rushed to the NHL as an 18 year old after being a third overall pick by a desperate Blackhawks team looking to recapture the glory days with an aging core of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith.

Dach had an okay rookie season, scoring 23 points in 64 games and six more points in nine playoff contests. But then, just before the shortened 2020-21 season, Dach broke his wrist in a World Junior exhibition game and was out for months. He did return and the Hawks just fired him right back into the mix. He played 18 games to close out that season and put up ten points.

Last season was his third in the NHL and he finished it with 26 points in 70 games. There is not a lot of production there, but Dach does still have a tremendously high ceiling. He is a huge centre at 6’4″ and 197 pounds, but found it impossible to build confidence and break out offensively on a bad Blackhawks team.

Can he rediscover his dominant two-way game and offensive touch from Junior now? St. Louis pushed all the right buttons to find Cole Caufield’s, Nick Suzuki’s and Jeff Petry’s offensive game. Why can’t he do it with another young forward who was maybe a bit rushed and then misused by the Blackhawks?

Dach wouldn’t be the first player to struggle for a year after having major wrist surgery. He also wouldn’t be the first NHL player to break out offensively after the age of 21, which is all he is today.

A third overall pick doesn’t magically get better because he changes team, I mean Jesperi Kotkaniemi went from 20 points in 56 games with the Canadiens to 29 points in 66 games with the Carolina Hurricanes.

But, Dach does have a unique combination of size, skill and two-way ability. He still has a chance to find his offensive game, and bring a physical dimension down the middle of the ice. He could become a dominant two-way beast for the Montreal Canadiens. It is no guarantee, but the chance of a major payout is way bigger with Dach than it was with Romanov.

Romanov was the safer, more reliable bet. He’s already a second pairing defenceman who plays physical and every now and then destroys an unsuspecting opponent. But he isn’t likely to climb much higher.

With Dach, there is a little more risk he doesn’t really pan out at all and never plays a second line role consistently. But, there is also a chance to teams up with Juraj Slafkovsky to form a line that can’t be stopped physically or offensively.

These draft day trades are all about going for the jackpot. If Dach scored 25 points again, the Habs will miss Romanov. If Dach scores 65 in a couple years while making defender shake in their skates while they go in the corner to get a puck, the Canadiens will have hit the jackpot.

Want your voice heard? Join the A Winning Habit team!

Write for us!