According to Puckpedia, the dates for all NHL arbitration hearings have been set, and the only Montreal Canadiens player who elected for arbitration, Kirby Dach, will have his hearing on July 30. This is the second-to-last day of hearings, and it allows another 17 days for the two parties to reach an agreement beforehand.
As previously reported, the Albertan decided to file for arbitration after the Habs gave him a two-way qualifying offer that included a $4M NHL salary and an AHL salary in the event he couldn’t crack the lineup, and he cleared waivers to land with the Laval Rocket. It was possible for Montreal to make that kind of offer because of Dach’s number of games played not only last year but in the last three seasons. Chances are, the Canadiens decided to use the one tool they had at their disposal to pay Dach less than the $4M he could have earned if he had received a one-way offer.
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The qualifying offer will expire on July 15 (unless it is extended by the team in writing), but the Canadiens and Dach will still be able to negotiate until the start of the arbitration hearing. It will be interesting to see if both sides can reach an agreement until then. As explained in a previous article, the lowest award the arbitrator could give is $3,400,000, and logic dictates that, should a deal be reached before the hearing, it would have to be somewhere between that and the $4,000,000 threshold.
Dach is represented by the same agent as Brendan Gallagher, Gerry Johannson, who also represents Dach’s younger brother, Colton. It was announced on Sunday that the younger Dach, who was a second-round draft pick for the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2021 draft, had reached an agreement with the Edmonton Oilers, signing a two-year contract extension with an AAV of $ 1.2 M. The forward had been traded to Edmonton in early March.
One way or another, by early August at the latest, the Canadiens and Dach should be fixed on how much the forward will earn, which could make it easier for GM Kent Hughes to move him in a trade if he so desires. High-profile RFAs Trevor Zegras and Jason Robertson will have their arbitration hearings on July 22 and 25, respectively.
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