The Montreal Canadiens acquired Kirby Dach at the 2022 NHL Draft, hoping the former third-overall pick would become the big, skilled centre they desperately needed. Four years later, the question is no longer what Dach might become, but how much longer the Canadiens can afford to wait for him to get there.
Kent Hughes first sent defenceman Alexander Romanov and the 98th overall pick to the New York Islanders for the 13th overall selection. He then packaged that first-round pick with the 66th overall selection and sent both to the Chicago Blackhawks for Dach. In other words, Montreal surrendered Romanov and two draft picks to land a player with plenty of potential but a few question marks. At the time, it was a gamble worth considering.
Unfortunately, Dach's career in Montreal has resembled a revolving door at a medical clinic. His injury history includes wrist problems in Chicago, a shoulder injury, lower-body and upper-body issues, and a devastating right knee injury in October 2023 that involved tears to both his ACL and MCL. More recently, knee trouble and a broken leg have added to the list.
The numbers tell a story of their own. Dach has played just 163 regular-season games for Montreal, including nine so far in 2026-27, missing approximately 52 per cent of the games available to him since joining the Canadiens. Across his entire NHL career in Chicago and Montreal, he has appeared in 315 regular-season games. For a player now in his eighth NHL season, that is a considerable amount of time spent watching from the sidelines.
There have been encouraging moments, of course. His 38-point season in 2022-23 showed what he could bring to the table, and his recent performances have offered some hope. His game against Chicago looked like one of his better efforts in a long time. The size, hands and vision are still there. Every so often, he reminds us why scouts saw so much potential in him. Then the momentum disappears, whether through injury or stretches of uninspiring play.
That is what makes Dach such a frustrating case. You want to keep your chin up and give the guy every opportunity to turn things around. Nobody chooses to be injured, and it would be unfair to hold his medical history against him as though it were a lack of effort. But professional hockey is a business, not a wishing well. Potential does not put points on the scoreboard, and the Canadiens cannot keep their centre depth on life support while hoping the next good stretch finally sticks.
Perhaps it is time to acknowledge that the Dach experiment has not delivered the return Hughes and Jeff Gorton envisioned. That does not necessarily make the original trade a mistake, but it does mean the management team must decide whether another investment makes sense. Dach is playing on a one-year, $3.6-million contract and is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in 2027.
The clock is ticking, and the leash should be getting shorter. Dach still has time to prove he belongs in Montreal's plans, but the burden of proof is now on him. He has been playing better lately, on the fourth line, but is that what the Habs need of him? The Canadiens have already waited through enough false starts to know that a few promising games do not make a season.
To his credit, Dach has shown some improvement since the recent road trip, and we're once again seeing flashes of being a NHL player. More members of the media and fans are beginning to sing his praises for finally pulling his weight on the fourth line.
That's all well and good, but let's not lose sight of why Kent Hughes and the Canadiens went out of their way to acquire him in the first place. They weren't trading valuable assets for a player they hoped would eventually become a serviceable fourth-line centre. The expectations were considerably higher than that as a former third overall pick.
Sometimes, you have to bite the bullet and accept that a good idea has run its course. Dach may yet prove everyone wrong, and I would be happy to eat those words. But until he can stay healthy and produce consistently, the Habs should be keeping their options open.
How much longer should the Canadiens wait for Kirby Dach to deliver, or is it time to move on? Particularly with the return to the lineup of Nick Suzuki and Ivan Demidov, and seeing how Florian Xhekaj, Oliver Kapanen and Owen Beck are performing.
Leave a Reply