Kirby Dach's long-term absence leaves giant hole in middle of Canadiens' lineup

BROSSARD, Que.— Kirby Dach was in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up on the receiving end of some terrible misfortune.

He was just fine when he initially collided with former Canadien Jarred Tinordi late in the first period of Montreal’s 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks Saturday, but he was anything but fine when his right leg got tangled up with Tinordi’s as the big defenceman finished his hit into Chicago’s bench.

For the Canadiens, it was déjà vu.

“It’s the same weird, flukey type of thing that’s happened to this team in each of the last two seasons,” said Cayden Primeau, who’s with the Canadiens now but spent the majority of that time in Laval, watching his Rocket teammates leave day after day to fill in for the wounded in Montreal. “Just can’t believe something strange like that would happen in the second game of the season, and I feel terrible for him.”

It’s a devasting blow for both Dach and the Canadiens.

They accumulated 600 man-games lost last season after leading the league in the category a season prior and they couldn’t even make it through five periods of this one before losing one of their best players to a long-term injury.

And Dach? The 22-year-old was that pivotal last step away from establishing the consistency that marks all great players’ games, and he was trending towards taking it before he got crossed up with Tinordi.

“I feel that every game that I’ve seen him play in pre-season, and even now, you leave the rink and are like, 'Wow, he was really good tonight,'" said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis moments after the update on Dach’s status was delivered by vice-president of communications Chantal Machabee on Monday. “That’s a good feeling as a coach, and it just showed to me—and I know it’s a small sample of the season, counting exhibition games—the upside and maturity in terms of consistency. We were getting it every game.”

The journey to this point for the Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., native has been littered with obstacles. It wasn’t long after Dach was drafted third overall in 2019 that he suffered his first concussion at this level. He missed nearly 80 per cent of the following season with a fractured wrist and—with his development slowed at least in part due to that and his previous injury—he then struggled to live up to his massive potential in 2021-22.

As a result, the Blackhawks traded Dach to Montreal last summer.

He immediately turned the corner with the Canadiens last fall. It took him just 45 games to surpass his career-high of 28 points, which had been established in 70 games the year prior, and he was well on his way to producing more than the 38 points he finished with when a late-March injury stopped him in his tracks and cut his season to just 58 games.

The numbers were one thing, but the way Dach produced them while establishing himself as a centre who could also dominate the other end of the ice lent a lot of credibility to the notion that he was on the verge of breaking out this time around.

Now, with his timeline still uncertain, you have to wonder if he’ll even play again this season.

No matter how long Dach misses, it’s going to hurt the Canadiens, who count on his versatility and aren’t in possession of a similar player to replace him.

“He competes, his compete level, he brings a physical aspect to the game, not in terms of running around and hitting guys, but in terms of winning a lot of pucks back. He’s a guy that wins a lot of pucks in battles and steals pucks,” St. Louis said. “Obviously great in transition, he possesses, he’s got a very elite brain, can make plays. He’s shown that he can do a lot on the ice with, obviously, his size…”

Dach’s injury is leaving a six-foot-four, 217-pound hole in the middle of Montreal’s lineup.

“He’s a big-time player for us and he’s going to be missed,” said St. Louis. “But the league doesn’t care. There’s one team that really cares that Kirby’s hurt, the rest of the league doesn’t care. And the league keeps going, so, for us, we’ve got to keep going.”

The Canadiens passed their first test on that front, scoring all three goals in the win against Chicago while Dach was being treated behind the scenes.

As for the coming challenges his absence creates, they’ll handle them with Alex Newhook moving from wing to centre.

He came to the Canadiens under similar circumstances to Dach’s—as a high pick in the same draft who was also traded to Montreal after not quite meeting his potential through his first three years with his first organization—and he’s hoping to prove he can enjoy the same type of success Dach did in his first season with the team.

“I think I have a lot more to offer in the league, and this is a new opportunity,” the 22-year-old former member of the Colorado Avalanche said on Monday. “With this role now, I’m going to have to be a guy who can step up, and it’s definitely an opportunity for me to prove that I belong where I am right now and that I can play wherever in lineup and be a difference-maker.”

Canadiens assistant captain Mike Matheson believes Newhook can do exactly that.

“I think he’s another guy who has a really good stick and plays well positionally,” Matheson said. “He has the speed where he doesn’t really need to cheat to create offence, so he can stay in good position and remain dangerous offensively while being difficult to deal with at both ends.”

We’ve seen that so far, with Newhook producing two goals in the opening game of the season and then playing a responsible second game up the middle in Dach’s absence.

He’s topped 30 points in each of his first two full seasons in the league and will look to continue building on that with the Canadiens.

Still, without Dach, the Canadiens’ centre depth will be tested. Especially with Christian Dvorak still healing up from knee surgery, on long-term injury reserve and unavailable to play before Nov. 4 in St. Louis.

The team is also down to just 12 forwards for now.

We could see a player called up from the Rocket in short order, but Emil Heineman—a player who emerged in training camp as a logical first choice—won’t be the one.

Sources informed us the 21-year-old suffered a concussion when he collided with an official in Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Abbotsford Canucks.

Like Dach, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time and on the receiving end of some terrible misfortune that will leave him out of action indefinitely.