Canadiens' Kirby Dach displays offensive progress in win over Rangers

Kirby Dach put his head down, picked up his stride and put himself in position as an outlet option in case the 2-on-1 the Canadiens had just given up failed and could be transitioned into offence. 

When it did, the 6-foot-4, 212-pound forward got his big legs churning back down the right wing. As he reached the offensive zone, he looked for a pass from Cole Caufield that never came. When it instead went to Christian Dvorak, Dach slowed his progress to keep himself available, and he put the blade of his stick down for the pass he was anticipating after seeing the seam between him and Dvorak open right up.

With a quick flick of his wrists, upon receiving the puck from Dvorak, Dach pushed the puck off the post and into the net behind New York Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin to give the Canadiens their first 1-0 lead in 10 games. 

It was his eighth goal of the season, his career-high 27^th point, and with it being recorded in just his 44th game only further defies the logic Chicago Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson surely subscribed to as he justified trading him to Montreal this past summer. 

Davidson hadn’t fully soured on Dach, despite the player’s failure to produce more than 26 points in a season since being drafted third overall in 2019. He knew Dach had the awareness he used on his all-important goal in Montreal’s 2-1 win over the Rangers on Sunday. He was aware he had the size, the range, the skating ability and even the strong defensive presence he displayed throughout the rest of Sunday’s game. 

And months before Davidson pulled the trigger on the draft-floor trade that brought first- and third-round picks in 2022 back to Chicago, he told he Athletic’s Mark Lazerus, “I still hold a lot of promise for Kirby.” 

“He’s got some tools that you cannot teach,” Davidson continued. “He’s got some abilities that you really covet. The way I always try to look at it is if Kirby Dach, that package, was on another team, we would really want that. We would really want that package in our organization.”

But Davidson opted for something else because he, like others working for the Blackhawks, didn’t believe Dach would necessarily fulfill his offensive promise to merit keeping him during the rebuilding process he was committing to.

The same piece Lazerus put out on Apr. 5 of 2022 had this quote in it from Derek King, who was coaching the Blackhawks on an interim basis before he was replaced last summer by former Canadiens associate coach Luke Richardson.

“I think (Dach is) still untapped,” said King. “There’s offence there. Is he going to put up Patrick Kane numbers? I hope he does, but I just don’t see that coming. But he can be a solid two-way centreman and can put some numbers up. It’s not going to be off the charts, but this is something we’ll have to keep building on for him. Sometimes it’s hard for those young guys to accept that they’re only going to get 40 points in a year, not 60 or 70.”

That Dach never did is part of what made the risk Canadiens GM Kent Hughes took to acquire him worth it. 

He moved promising young defenceman Alexander Romanov to the New York Islanders to acquire the first-round pick he sent to Chicago, and he signed Dach to a four-year, $13.45-million contract on Sept. 7— before the Fort Saskatchewan, AB., native had even stepped on the ice in a Canadiens jersey. Doing all that for a player resigned to being a 40-point checker wouldn’t have made all that much sense. 

Dach began anew with the Canadiens hoping to prove two wrist injuries and a shoulder problem had played the largest roles in his inability to find consistency through his first three seasons in Chicago. And after producing three points in his first 10 games, he joined Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki on a line and managed 14 points over his next 13 games. 

Then Dach returned to Chicago and buried the game-winner in a shootout for the Canadiens to emphasize he possessed the offensive ability the Blackhawks didn’t feel he’d ever capitalize on. 

Days before Dach stole the show in the windy city, Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said, “If you give up on a 21-year-old, in hockey or anything else, I think that you probably don't have a lot of patience. You might not have the full picture or a growth mindset.”

“At 21, you're still so young,” St. Louis continued. “Kirby was the NHL's third-overall pick three years ago. What did I see? I saw a third overall pick. His assets and everything, his height and reach.”

Despite a slight dip in production, which coincided with dips for many of his Canadiens teammates from Dec. 19-Jan. 5, Dach has displayed them throughout his time in Montreal. 

And if not for Samuel Montembeault, who made 39 saves in his second game in less than 24 hours—and Cole Caufield, who added the 26^th goal of his season to his first assist since late November—he would’ve been considered the player of Sunday’s game. 

Dach’s goal broke the ice 4:54 into the second period, just 41 seconds into Montreal’s second power play of the game. It was one of four shots he had on net. 

He blocked three at the other end, had a great takeaway from Jacob Trouba to break up a Rangers rush at one point, was responsible for several successful zone exits and entries and he recorded a hit through nearly 17 minutes of hard play at the centre position. 

“He’s got a game where he’s able to control the game a little bit,” St. Louis told reporters at Madison Square Garden afterwards. “He’s got a lot of poise in space. Even in not a lot of space got poise. In space he’s obviously very creative. He can cover a lot of ice with his size and reach. We’ve all been intrigued: Can he play centre in this league? At 21, I don’t think any of us were going to say he wasn’t going to be a centre. 

“Sometimes circumstances make you really have to take a look at that now—not that we haven’t throughout the season, and we’re kind of forced into it now (with Sean Monahan and Jake Evans injured)—and I thought he gave us a really good game.”

It was the game the Canadiens needed from Dach after losing Evans in the loss to the Islanders on Saturday. 

That he surpassed his previous career-high in points in the contest and is now one shy of his best in the goals category—with 38 games remaining—shows he’s got more than just potential when it comes to producing offence. 

Dach may not be a 60- or 70-point player between Mike Hoffman and Josh Anderson, whom he pivoted during Sunday’s game, but his ability to be a highly productive centre is much less in doubt than it was before he arrived with the Canadiens. 

How he completed Suzuki and Caufield’s line offers part of the evidence. And how Dach has looked at centre in the games he’s played there since the start of the season offers the rest. 

The goal Dach scored against the Rangers was his third over his last six games, and there will surely be more of them coming as this season rolls along.