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Kirby Dach must be removed from the lineup.

 Michaël Petit
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Kirby Dach must be removed from the lineup.
Credit: Getty Images
We start this text strongly, but it needs to be addressed.

Kirby Dach is not meeting expectations this season (at all).

And I’m not just talking about his offensive contribution (which we are eagerly anticipating in Montreal), but about his overall game.

He seems lost, hesitates too much with the puck, and is often late on the play, leading to far too many penalties on his part.

Taking good penalties is possible, but the Canadiens, in general, are far too undisciplined, and Dach is a significant part of that.

In fact, the CH is ranked 4th in the league for the number of penalty minutes this season.

Dach needs to change something in his game, otherwise, the worst could happen: watching a game (or several) from the press box.

As for me, he should have sat out for a while a long time ago, and Tony Marinaro thinks the same.

This morning on BPM Sports, Marinaro shared his thoughts on the Canadiens’ big center.

“The fact that Kirby Dach plays like one of the worst players in the NHL is the problem. If Kirby Dach didn’t have a certain name […] and if the CH didn’t have so much hope in him, he wouldn’t be in the lineup.” – Tony Marinaro

That was clear enough.

And on that point, he is completely right.

Any player performing like Dach is would have already had their turn in the press box and that is what Martin St-Louis must do if he truly wants to wake up his troops.

Putting Dach as a healthy scratch and bringing in a Michael Pezzetta or recalling a deserving player from Laval in his place will certainly make a difference.

At the very least, the player in question should understand that he needs to change something.

Reducing the number of penalties he takes would already be a good start.

As Arpon Basu explains in his latest piece on The Athletic, he dissects the indiscipline of the CH and Dach’s situation.

D’abord, ce qu’il faut comprendre, c’est que ce n’est pas Dach qui a le plus de pénalités chez le CH.

It’s Josh Anderson who is actually at the very top in the NHL among forwards in this regard.

But Anderson, it’s because he works hard and tries to create something.

Dach is simply late and lacks the grit and intensity that explain Anderson’s penalties.

But as I mentioned earlier in the text, there are good penalties and bad ones. And Dach often falls into the latter category…

Even if Dach only has “10” minor penalties this season, most of them occurred at crucial moments and/or were costly.

“Three of Dach’s penalties were in the third period; the game was tied in two of those three instances. He took another penalty in overtime on Long Island, but his teammates blocked four shots to kill it before losing in a shootout.” – Arpon Basu

Definitely, Dach needs to correct his indiscipline at the wrong moments.

This cannot continue like this, and for the next game against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday, I would sit him out to bring Pezzetta into the lineup.

He may not score much (like Dach, in fact), but he at least brings something else to the table.


In Brief

– To listen.

– Zach Hyman has been on fire since his return to action: already his 7th goal (at the time of writing) in just six games.

– The giant defenseman (who accidentally cut Michael McCarron in the neck) is the second defenseman in franchise history to score two goals in his first three career games.

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