On Wednesday, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre stated that Lane Hutson was one of the Canadiens’ top-3 untouchable players . The question has been put to many experts at BPM Sports over the past few days, and the line almost always includes Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky, but the third player often changes.
On Thursday, Denis Gauthier answered the question by declaring that Kirby Dach is one of the Canadiens’ untouchables.
When you think of Kirby Dach, you can’t help but realize how often he’s injured. He has missed a total of 104 games over the past two seasons.
But Gauthier is basing his opinion on what he saw at last year’s training camp and in Dach’s first two games of the season.
The 6-foot-4 forward turned a lot of heads during training camp, and his preseason was almost perfect. He finished the preseason with three points in four games.
His start to the season was also going in the right direction. He scored two points in two games before suffering an injury that sidelined him for the entire season.
We’re talking about a center who should be able to lead a second line, but he still needs to stay healthy. And therein lies the problem.
Denis Gauthier is aware of all this. He’s confident that Kirby Dach is an untouchable in Montreal, but he may not be soon if his injury problems persist.
The former NHL defenseman is confident that Dach can impress this year. IF he doesn’t, Cole Caufield is his fourth choice among the Canadiens’ untouchables.
However, Gauthier prefers to put Dach ahead of Caufield because Caufield is a scorer, but he doesn’t necessarily bring as many advantages to the Habs as Dach can.
Dach may not be as good a scorer as Caufield, but he’s much more versatile. He’s the kind of player who can make an impact, whether on the power play or shorthanded, through five-on-five.
Fingers are now crossed that Kirby Dach will be able to complete a season without major injury for the first time in a Habs uniform.
