Kirby Dach has been just short of a disaster for the Montreal Canadiens this year, and something needs to be done. It started with the injury, which has started a downhill spiral that has grown larger and larger as the season has gone on.
Kent Hughes and Jeff Gorton have made their moves based on a singular philosophy: buy low, sell high. And one of their earliest and greatest examples of this was acquiring Kirby Dach from the Chicago Blackhawks.
In his first year as a Montreal Canadien, Dach recorded a career high in goals, assists and points while playing just 58 games. He proved himself as a big, physical, skilled forward and everyone thought the trade was a slam dunk, giving up just a first and third round pick.
At just 22, everyone was excited for his next season and continued growth, but that was cut almost impossibly short when he tore his ACL and MCL in one play when he was put into the bench by, of course, a former Montreal Canadien Jarred Tinordi, while against Dach's former team, the Blackhawks.
That was just the second game of the season, and it took him out for the entire season, which is the typical amount of time needed to recover for such an injury, and Dach seemed to make the correct steps to rehabilitate and was ready to go for the start of this season.
And, to be fair, Dach did start the season with the Habs, and has played all thirty games so far. Unfortunately, in those thirty games, Dach has only scored 2 goals and 9 points so far. Its a far cry from his first season. Dach would have to score 12 goals and 29 points in just 28 games to match his output in 2022-23.
Part of that is due to his physical limitations. He has clearly lost a step in his skating. A step that he is working on getting back, and it has looked better as the season has gone on, as noted by Nick Suzuki
And since Dach has not been as fast as he has been, he has tried to play a more physical game. It makes sense, listed at 6'4 and 221 pounds, he is a noticeably big body and is capable of using his body effectively.
However, with a change of playstyle comes some growing pains, and those have been coming to Dach in the form of penalties. He's recorded 4 penalties in his last five games, and some of them have come at the worst time possible.
Like on the game against the New York Rangers on November 30th. With the game tied 3-3, Dach takes a high-sticking double minor in the last three minutes, allowing Kaapo Kakko and the Rangers to score and win the game.
And it's all of these things that have been a terrible, sad snowball which has carried its momentum throughout the year. Because he is limited physically, Dach can't play his regular game. Because he can't produce offensively, he has tried to play more physically. Because he has played more physically, he has taken more penalties. And each of these factors also brings down his confidence.
And as the season keeps going this way, the snowball gets bigger and bigger and harder to stop. He has shown strides lately of getting better, but it's going to be on him, his teammates and the coaching and training staff to work with Dach to keep his confidence up and rehabilitate this injury.
Dach is still young and has a lot of developing to do, even without losing a year to injury. Its not too late to turn it around.