The 60-point plateau is (very) attainable for Kirby Dach

Kirby Dach missed the entirety of last season.

In fact, he was able to play three and a half periods… before tearing his anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament.

It’s a shame, because let’s not forget that the big center really looked comfortable on the ice during training camp and the first game of the campaign.

Dach is expected to be back in top form for the next training camp, and of course, all eyes will be on him.

Everyone will want to watch him to see if his injury affects his play on the ice, and that’s why it’s hard to set expectations right now.

Because ultimately, we don’t know how his body will react.

But for the sake of the exercise, Tony Marinaro and Eric Engels got together to project how many points #77 will score next year if he can stay healthy.

That said, Marinaro says in the recent episode of his podcast (published this morning, but filmed last week) that the 60-point plateau is “very” attainable for Dach in 24-25 if the stars align :

I think even coming back from such a major injury, making 60 points (for Dach) is very achievable. – Tony Marinaro

It’s sure to startle a few people.

On the other hand, Tony Marinaro makes a point that shouldn’t be forgotten: in 22-23, in his first season with the Habs, Dach scored 38 points in the space of 58 games.

We’re talking about 53 points in a full 82-game season.

All this will also depend on his playing time and his line-mates.

It seemed to work really well with Juraj Slafkovsky at camp last year and in the first game of the season…

And now Slaf is even better than he was this time last year.

Will Martin St-Louis be tempted by the idea of pairing the two big forwards on the same line at the start of training camp?

And if so, could it allow Dach to explode, even though he’s just suffered a very serious injury?

That’s a lot of questions, and that’s what may worry some people about Dach, because there’s a lot of uncertainty right now.

But the important thing is that he’s able to stay healthy and play a full season in a Habs uniform.

After that, we’ll be able to set our own expectations…