- Kent Hughes has floated Kirby Dach in trade talks, but only in a deal that lands Montreal a center
- Dach is coming off an 8-goal, 15-point season in 37 games and just got a $4MM qualifying offer
- Read below for what Dach still brings and why the Habs won’t move him for nothing
The Canadiens still want another center, and Kirby Dach could be the way they get one.
David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported that Dach has come up in Montreal’s trade talks with other clubs, though only in a deal that brings back a center. Kent Hughes has spent years chasing a stable second-line pivot behind Nick Suzuki, and he’s willing to move roster pieces to land one.
Dach is coming off another season wrecked by injuries. He put up eight goals and 15 points in 37 games, a 0.41 points-per-game clip that ranked as the worst assist rate of his career. By the playoffs he had slid down to a fourth-line role.
What still jumps out is the speed. Even with two right-ACL tears in the last three years, Dach hit a max skating speed of 23.42 miles per hour this season, good for the 94th percentile among all skaters.
Here’s Dach using that gear to score in the second round against Buffalo:
Contract talks are quiet. Montreal handed Dach his $4 million qualifying offer last month to keep his rights, and AFP Analytics projects he lands around $2.225 million on a two-year deal if he doesn’t just sign that offer outright.
None of that means Dach is as good as gone. The Habs still sit on more than $14 million in cap space with no obvious internal answer at center, so Hughes isn’t going to deal him for the sake of it. Montreal has spent the offseason hunting scoring help, including a long look at Kirill Marchenko.
The center market is thin. Vincent Trocheck signed with the Mammoth on July 1, and Dylan Larkin’s short list of approved destinations reportedly leaves out Montreal. If Hughes wants his 2C, Dach might be the chip that gets him there.
