Much has been made of the fact that the Montreal Canadiens signed Kirby Dach to a new contract and that he will have yet another chance to prove himself. Some are convinced that if it weren’t for his dreadful luck with injuries, he could be a prominent top-six player for the Habs and that he deserves another opportunity to prove it.
However, he won’t be the only forward who’ll be playing in a contract year and eager to prove himself. Furthermore, I think there are players more deserving of a chance on the top six than he is. Whichever way you look at it, injuries have indeed been a grave issue for Dach, but even when he is healthy, the consistency is lacking.
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He shone brightly in the playoffs when he was annoyed at being heavily criticized by fans and media after game two of the Canadiens’ first-round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Still, after that he vanished, and he finished the playoffs on the wing of the fourth line. In the Eastern Conference Final, he didn’t have a single point and finished with a minus-four rating in five games. Granted, Nick Suzuki was minus-five, but he had much harder matchups and a lot more ice time.
Alex Newhook will also be playing in a contract year this season, and he’s coming off the best season of his career, despite being limited to just 42 games because of injuries. He put up 25 points, after putting up 26 the previous season, but in 82 games. When he came back from his injury, he hit the ground running, and he’s developed good chemistry with Ivan Demidov and Oliver Kapanen.
In the playoffs, he was the one who scored both game-winning goals in Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Buffalo Sabres. The one against the Sabres came in overtime, and the one against the Bolts in the third frame. The Newfoundlander really showed up in the playoffs and answered the bell big time. He finished the third round with a minus-two rating and never looked like he had given up.
Meanwhile, Kapanen, who hit a wall in the second part of the season after the Olympics, may have finished his playoffs as a healthy scratch, but given how well he linked up with Demidov in the first part of the season, he should still be in the top six. Granted, long-term, he won’t be in the top six, but if the Canadiens fail to add a top-six center before the start of the season, he’s a suitable placeholder. Seeing a rookie hit a wall in the second half of a campaign is not a rare phenomenon; he deserves another chance, especially since this will also be a contract year for him.
If and when Michael Hage pans out as an NHL center, Kapanen will be pushed down to the third line, which is a more realistic role for him, but for now, it can only benefit his development to play him on the second line with tough matchups.
I’m not completely ruling out Dach as a top-six player this season, but the way I see it, he should have to earn another opportunity, and there are players ahead of him. I would even suggest that Zach Bolduc, who’s currently an unsigned RFA, would be more deserving of a shot on the second line right now. He finished the playoffs on the fourth line just like Dach, but he played with much more energy and dedication, taking a leaf out of Josh Anderson’s book, something that Dach never committed to.
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