{"id":201690,"date":"2025-09-20T16:25:35","date_gmt":"2025-09-20T16:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/201690\/"},"modified":"2025-09-20T16:25:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T16:25:35","slug":"after-injury-woes-kirby-dach-looks-to-seize-opportunity-on-canadiens-second-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/201690\/","title":{"rendered":"After injury woes, Kirby Dach looks to seize opportunity on Canadiens\u2019 second line"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Montreal Canadiens centre Kirby Dach, left, has played just 59 NHL games the last two seasons combined due to knee inuries.Graham Hughes\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Kirby Dach knows injuries have made the past two years a nightmare on the ice.<\/p>\n

The Montreal Canadiens centre still refuses to feel sorry for himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe league doesn\u2019t stop to worry about me,\u201d Dach said Thursday. \u201cWhy would I stop and worry about myself when I\u2019ve got to get back to work and do all the right things?\u201d<\/p>\n

For the second straight camp, Dach is grinding back from a season-ending right knee injury. This time around, he\u2019s tackling it with lessons learned from his previous lengthy recovery.<\/p>\n

Dach struggled to rebound quickly last season, sputtering to only two goals and nine points \u2014 and a team-low minus-21 \u2014 through the first 30 games.<\/p>\n

The six-foot-four forward finished with 10 goals and 12 assists in 57 games \u2014 well below expectations for a former No. 3 overall pick \u2014 but he appears dead-set on flipping the script this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really look at it as a challenge, more as an opportunity to right some wrongs,\u201d he said of his second knee recovery. \u201cYou learn a lot of lessons in life and you can either choose to go through those and accept them \u2026 or you can just keep going through life and making mistakes. I looked at it as an opportunity to do things the right way and really bear down and get ready for the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing everything away from the rink and doing everything on the ice as hard as I can and with purpose, understanding that you got to be ready and do everything [correctly].\u201d<\/p>\n

Defenceman Kaiden Guhle, who trained with Dach around Edmonton during the off-season, saw it first-hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome days he\u2019d be at the gym three, four hours working out,\u201d Guhle said. \u201cHe\u2019d be at the gym so long, he\u2019d be working out with the 12-year-olds.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was dialled in all summer. He was doing what he had to do. I hope he has a great start \u2014 I expect him to have a great start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head coach Martin St. Louis confirmed Tuesday that the second-line centre spot is Dach\u2019s to lose.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old, who hopes to be ready for Montreal\u2019s season-opener Oct. 8 in Toronto, is skating with sharpshooter Patrik Laine and rookie-of-the-year favourite Ivan Demidov on his wings at camp.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a combination the Canadiens hope brings Dach back to the form of his first season in Montreal, when he put up 38 points in 58 games in 2022-23 after arriving via trade from Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s where I want to be. I\u2019m the centre,\u201d Dach said. \u201cI know I can play on both sides of the puck and be a difference-maker, so I feel good and I\u2019m ready to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laine, who\u2019s also chasing a bounce-back season, believes Dach can find his way.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s proven that when he\u2019s healthy, he can definitely be that guy,\u201d Laine said. \u201cYou can definitely see all the work he\u2019s put in this summer and after the injury to be ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an exciting and scary thing for other teams when a big man like that gets going, and with his hands too, it\u2019ll be a pretty fun line to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Suzuki and Dach were seen as Montreal\u2019s one-two punch down the middle until Dach\u2019s first serious knee injury just two games into 2023-24.<\/p>\n

Over the off-season, Montreal\u2019s need for a second-line centre dominated chatter among fans and media.<\/p>\n

Dach, who\u2019s also playing for his next contract with his deal set to expire after this season, will first have an opportunity to prove that\u2019s not a need after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Montreal Canadiens centre Kirby Dach, left, has played just 59 NHL games the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201691,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5103],"tags":[1018,1001,1019,967,991,1020,19,990,1008,1009,1004,992,989,265,1014,1016,1013,1007,1000,1030,993,994,1006,5,1002,1003,997,1021,264,21,5147,998,1025,1026,4,1028,1023,1027,786,1024,995,1011,1012,333,1010,1022,86,1015,1017,1005,999,996,1029],"class_list":{"0":"post-201690","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal-canadiens","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-canadiens","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-hockey","32":"tag-life-news","33":"tag-lifestyle","34":"tag-local-news","35":"tag-manitoba","36":"tag-montreal","37":"tag-montreal-canadiens","38":"tag-montrealcanadiens","39":"tag-national-news","40":"tag-new-brunswick","41":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","42":"tag-nhl","43":"tag-northwest-territories","44":"tag-nova-scotia","45":"tag-nunavut","46":"tag-ontario","47":"tag-pei","48":"tag-photos","49":"tag-political-news","50":"tag-political-opinion","51":"tag-politics","52":"tag-politics-news","53":"tag-quebec","54":"tag-sports-news","55":"tag-technology","56":"tag-travel","57":"tag-trudeau","58":"tag-us-news","59":"tag-world-news","60":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201690\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}