How Dach, Canadiens are keeping injury from becoming wasted development opportunity

MONTREAL— Kirby Dach suffered a season-ending injury before five full periods of the 2023-24 campaign were played, and there’s no downplaying how terrible that was.

The timing of it was particularly awful for both Dach and the Canadiens, with the player and the team aiming—and appearing ready—to simultaneously take a big step forward in their development, and both have suffered plenty of pain since.

It’s been distressing for the Canadiens, who lost one of their most pivotal players right off the hop and have since been left to wonder what would have been if they hadn’t. They stayed relatively competitive for two of the first four months Dach missed but dropped further and further out of contention over the last two, finding themselves 10 points out of a playoff spot on this day, and as coach Martin St. Louis said after Sunday’s practice at the Bell Centre, “You can’t help but stop from time to time and say, ‘Imagine if we had Kirby?’”

Dach, who had the ACL and MCL of his right knee surgically repaired on Oct. 31, has been haunted by that thought ever since learning of the damage caused in his collision with Jared Tinordi in the Oct. 14 game against his former team, the Chicago Blackhawks. The pain he’s experienced has been more than just physical.

A little less than 12 weeks from his 23^rd birthday, the injury left Dach slumped over crutches, staring down yet another season of having to miss all the things that make playing in the NHL special—the practices, the games, the bonding in the room and on road trips—and, as he said on Sunday, when speaking to the media for the first time since suffering his injury, that wasn’t a pleasant reality to deal with.

“Had a whole season ripped away, it’s not a good feeling,” Dach said.

But neither he nor the Canadiens allowed that to linger, and the emphasis both put on not allowing this to be a lost season in the player’s development is a silver lining that can’t be ignored.

Dach committed to taking strides in that process when he decided to stay in Montreal and continuously be around the team. Aside from the two-to-three weeks he took during the Christmas Holidays to be back home with family, he’s been a regular fixture on the bench at practice and at morning skates, and he’s spent the rest of his time in Montreal pursuing his rehabilitation with a training staff he said he feels indebted to.

As for the Canadiens, they’ve not only done their part to make Dach feel a part of things on a daily basis; they’ve done everything possible to continue to stimulate the player’s personal growth.

One of the ways they’ve done it feels pretty unique to them.

Without knowing for sure, it’s unimaginable many coaches in the NHL would invite one of their youngest players to regularly sit in on their pre-scout meetings, but that’s exactly what St. Louis has done with Dach.

And the coach didn’t ask the player just to sit in as a silent observer; he encouraged him to be an active participant and used his knowledge to the Canadiens’ benefit to best prepare for their opposition.

“That’s the nice thing about having a coaching staff like Marty and the other coaches,” Dach said. “They’re open to a two-way conversation and a discussion rather than (me) just being told what to do and thinking about it.

“It’s nice to be able to bounce ideas back and forth and talk about what I see and talk about what they see and come up with a plan.”

It certainly keeps a player learning, and keeps him engaged with a daily process his injury would’ve only naturally divorced him from.

Dach said the experience has been illuminating and, most importantly, helpful for him.

“It’s huge,” he said. “I think more than anything, I’m seeing the game through different peoples’ eyes and I’ve had a lot of good talks with Marty about the game and the way he sees it and the way I see it and good discussions like that, and I think, for me, as a player, it’s only going to benefit me in the long run.

“I’d love to be out there playing with the guys and competing each and every night, but just wasn’t in the cards this year. So, just find other ways to work on my game and build up for next year.”

What, precisely, has Dach taken from the video sessions with the coaching staff?

“To me it’s just learning the game, seeing things from different perspectives and different views and understanding why you want to do certain things out there and where you want to be in space to make different plays and that,” the six-foot-four centreman said. “I feel like, as a player, when you’re sitting in those (team) meetings in the morning, and you’re watching, you don’t really see all the behind-the-scenes and how many clips there really is to go through. Some mornings (with the coaches) are a bit long, and it’s a bit early to get here, but it's definitely been worth it and helped me out a lot.”

St. Louis has appreciated this time, as well, using it to converse with a player he’s consistently complimented for having a good brain for the game. And the coach has been delighted to see how Dach goes beyond just attending these meetings and sharing his insights with him and his staff.

St. Louis sees a lot of value in how the player has also sought to impart his knowledge and experience on his teammates.

When he was asked what it says about Dach that he took it upon himself to help Juraj Slafkovsky break through adversity earlier in the season, he said, “I think not everybody has the personality and the makeup to be comfortable to go talk to a player about his game, so that’s great to have.”

St. Louis felt it was beneficial for both Dach and Slafkovsky.

“I think that’s the beauty of playing a team game,” he said, “and having discussions with some of your peers and teammates and talking about the game, it’s amazing what you can learn. You can learn from conversations, you can learn from watching your teammates in practice, your teammates in games, you can learn from watching opponents play in a game. There’s so many opportunities to learn and absorb, and discussions amongst teammates are part of it. As a player, I enjoyed that, and I just think that every day is an opportunity to grow.”

Dach has taken advantage of this one when he easily could’ve spent his time just focusing on rehabbing his knee and getting himself back on the ice, and his commitment to doing both has left him encouraged about his progress.

Mentally, he feels sharp.

And physically?

“I don’t think my physical development’s taken a hit at all,” Dach said. “I feel good. My body, the way I move…I was walking around without a brace two, three weeks after surgery and skating three-and-a-half months after, so I feel good there, I feel strong.”

He isn’t expected to return for games in April but didn’t dismiss the possibility, saying he was angling to stay ahead of his recovery timeline.

Dach said he’s hopeful to get into some practices between now and the final day of the season, which comes halfway through April, and he said he expects all his rehab to be done by then.

“The season’s eight months long and this injury usually takes eight months,” the Fort Saskatchewan, ALTA., native said. “So, by the time it’s over and all is said and done, I should be able to be fine and get into summer training and have no real questions or worries about my leg.”

Dach can only hope to leave his injury woes behind, too.

He dealt with them soon after being drafted third overall in 2019, with a wrist injury limiting him to just 18 games during the pandemic-abridged 2020-21 season.

Dach also missed 24 games last season with lower- and upper-body injuries, and the experience of going down early this season—after he came in looking and feeling like he was ready to author his best chapter yet in the league—was a devastating one he hopes to never repeat.

“It sucks sitting out a whole year,” Dach said. “You never want to be hurt, you never want to have to watch your team go to battle for 80 games.”

But he’s dealt with it as well as one can, kept himself in high spirits, and both he and the Canadiens found ways to make the best of a terrible situation.