Right when he was hired, Montreal Canadiens’ GM Kent Hughes explained that he wouldn’t be the kind of GM who buys high and sells low. He explained that he was a firm believer that players, once in the NHL, aren’t finished products and can keep improving. We’ve seen it with the likes of Cole Caufield, who has improved by leaps and bounds since graduating to the NHL and working under Martin St-Louis; the same can be said for Nick Suzuki, whose point production has skyrocketed without sacrificing his defensive game, which has improved as well.
One player who hasn’t improved, though, and that may mainly be down to injuries, is Kirby Dach. When Hughes sacrificed Alexander Romanov at the 2022 draft to get the first-round pick he flipped to the Chicago Blackhawks to acquire Dach, he was hoping that the Habs’ coaching staff could make him reach his full potential and become a big-bodied second-line center. That hasn’t happened; far from it.
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Dach had a tough start to the playoffs; he was responsible for the Canadiens failing to take a 2-0 lead in the series and faced serious online backlash after that icing. With fans and media alike suggesting that he should be scratched from the lineup, St-Louis came out and stood by him, saying he would never give up on a player that hadn’t given up on himself. Dach had a great bounce-back game, but by the end of the playoffs, he was on the wing of the fourth line.
With his injury history and his struggles on the ice at the end of the playoffs, Dach’s value is at an all-time low. Not only has he failed to show he’s a center in the NHL, but at times he looks nonchalant on the ice. He’s not playing a hard game; he doesn’t come into the corners with speed to finish his checks and get the puck back. Even if he was a third-overall pick full of potential once upon a time, the last four years have taken the shine off him. While there’s a belief that there’s always a GM out there who thinks they can turn things around for a player, after all, Alex Galchenyuk had a second chance with six other teams after the Canadiens (he even had two kicks at the can with the Arizona Coyotes), it doesn’t seem to be the case for Dach, not right now. It must be said that Galchenyuk didn’t have Dach’s injury history, however.
At this stage, the forward is not only a player who has failed to reach his potential but also one who is injury-prone. He needs to prove that he can stay healthy and be a good player on the ice. Those are not great selling points. Right now, Dach is a throw-in for a larger deal; he cannot be the main piece to land a needle-moving player.
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Given the fact that Hughes has been unable to strike a big deal to improve his roster, it’s not surprising that Dach is still a member of the Canadiens, but he has been given a stern warning. The fact that he was presented with a qualifying offer for a two-way contract speaks volumes about where he is in the organization right now, and so does the fact that he signed only a one-year contract.
While it’s not clear which of the two camps wanted a one-year deal, it doesn’t smell good. If the Canadiens only wanted to give him a one-year pact, it suggests they are getting ready to cut their losses on the player. They’re willing to pay him this year when his rights are still under team control, but unless things change dramatically, they don’t see him as a part of the team long-term. If Dach was the one who pushed for the one-year term, it suggests that he might have had his feathers ruffled by the two-way contract offer and will want to move on from the Canadiens once he becomes a UFA.
At the end of the 2024-25 season, in his exit interview, he was told that the organization wasn’t pleased with the physical form he showed up in at the start of camp and that he needed to do better. The qualifying offer he received means that the team wasn’t pleased with him this past season either, but it wasn’t ready to just let him walk away after investing assets to acquire him.
If he’s still with the Canadiens when the puck drops on the season, the Habs’ brass will simply be hoping that he can stay healthy and play in a way that will see him regain some value on the trade market. If the fact that he’ll be playing for a new contract and attempting to prove to the NHL that he belongs doesn’t motivate Dach to play well on both sides of the puck, I don’t know what will.
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