Kirby Dach didn’t have a great season in 2024-25. The forward, who was coming back from a major knee injury, was limited to 10 goals and 22 points in 57 games, then missed the rest of the campaign due to (another) knee operation.
Coming back from such an injury isn’t easy… but considering the Habs were counting on Dach to pilot their second line, it wasn’t ideal.
And a few months later, we realize that Dach is once again on track to start the year at the center of the second line. That can always change, but right now, that’s where we’re putting him when we make the Canadiens’ projected line-up for 2025-26.
But the Habs seem to have faith in their young forward, as Marco D’Amico noted on The Shaun Starr Show:
[The Canadiens] strongly believe that Kirby Dach will bounce back this season. – Marco D’Amico
We know that Dach, in his first year in Montreal, showed great promise. In particular, he shone on the wing of the first line (in the chair now occupied by Juraj Slafkovský), and before the injuries, he was seen as the Habs’ possible first center of the future.
Yes, things have changed a lot in the last two years.
That said, Dach seems to be in better shape than ever… and there’s every reason to believe he can bounce back. The arrival of Ivan Demidov, for example, could give him a quality winger… but the arrival of Zachary Bolduc could also change things.
Because, as Arpon Basu noted in a piece (The Athletic) this morning, Dach’s numbers weren’t terrible when he didn’t have Patrik Laine as a winger. The “fit” between the two players, both returning from long absences, didn’t work… but away from Laine, Dach was a much better player.
There’s a world in which Laine arrives at camp strong, and a normal summer of practice means he’s back to being the Laine of the good old days. That said, if that’s not the case and the Finn struggles to get a big role, the Habs can always try to send a guy like Bolduc, who brings a more physical dimension, alongside Dach and Demidov.
Maybe that’s how the Habs can unlock their second center, after all.
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