4:04 PM: It has been reported that Dach suffered a torn ACL and MCL in his knee. He will undergo further testing to officially determine the injury soon.
10:39 AM: Montreal Canadiens forward Kirby Dach is expected to miss “significant” time with a lower-body injury, Sportsnet’s Eric Engels reports. Dach sustained the injury in Saturday’s win against the Chicago Blackhawks after he was on the receiving end of a large hit from Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi.
Dach, 22, looks like a future top-six fixture for the Habs – if he can stay healthy. He recorded 14 goals, 24 assists and 38 points in 58 games in 2022-23 – his first season in Montreal – a career-high pace of 54 points in a full season. The 2019 third-overall pick of the Chicago Blackhawks logged two assists through his first two games this season, but it appears he’ll need to wait a while to add to that total.
Dach missed 16 games at the tail end of last season with another lower-body injury. In his absence, another young forward on the cusp of a breakout, Alex Newhook, will center the team’s second line. Montreal acquired Newhook from the Colorado Avalanche this summer in exchange for a first- and second-round pick as well as defense prospect Gianni Fairbrother.
Montreal hopes this isn’t a sign of things to come. The team lost over 600 man-games to injury last season, believed to be an NHL all-time record. For a team hyper-focused on the development of their young core, this is far from an ideal situation.
With Dach out of the lineup, look for the Habs to place him on injured reserve and make a corresponding recall of a forward from AHL Laval. They now have just 12 healthy forwards on the roster.
Another piece of glass in the Canadiens lineup.
Can’t buy a break. Monaghan and Gallagher next I assume.
Karma’s a bitch.
Nothing new here. When Davidson started trading for draft picks he was one guy I wasn’t sorry to see go.
Thats a hard blow to take, i assumed they would just rool with the players on the 23man and have RHP move up to 2nd line and have Pezzeta gp to the 4th line. Now its 6 months plus if i remember correctly dor M/Acl type injuries. Id like yo see a Roy, Mesar or Farrel get a shot at top 6 minutes owen beck would have been nice to keep around for a 7 game tryout now thats for sure. They sent Armia down already NOW USE THE SPOT FOR YOUNG GUYS. I dont want to see Armia penciled in 50+ games this year
No surprise with Dach.
I don’t know anything about Dach’s time in CHI, but I was enjoying watching him play with the Habs. Guy has talent and creativity and a seems to have some snark that hadn’t really bothered me. Never saw him do anything that looked like he was purposefully trying to injure anyone. Just seemed like he was kinda a prick, which I kinda liked. Seemed well-measured imho. Course I didn’t have a big sample size. Thought the Habs might’ve had something there this season that was gonna be fun to watch. Rumor is he’s out till next year.