Kirby Dach: The reason (probably) why he turned down his qualifying offer

Marc-Olivier Cook
Kirby Dach: The reason (probably) why he turned down his qualifying offer
Credit: NHL.com

Kirby Dach declined the Canadiens' qualifying offer ($4 million) for the 26-27 season.

The result?

The player will have to go before an arbitrator to determine his next annual salary in the NHL. But as ironic as it may seem, Kirby's decision may not be based entirely on the salary of his next contract…

The thing is, the Canadiens' qualifying offer to Dach was… a two-part offer.

Usually, qualifying offers made to National Hockey League players are single-part, but…

But the Canadiens were able to submit a two-part offer to Dach because he played fewer than 60 games last season and fewer than 180 games when combining his last three NHL seasons.

And that surely explains why he wanted to reject the offer…

There's something worth noting here.

A two-way contract means a player is paid an amount X if he plays in the AHL and an amount Y if he plays in the NHL. This technicality only affects salary and does not affect eligibility for waivers, as some people think.

That said, Kirby (probably) wanted to ensure he had a single-part contract in order to earn as much money as possible (even if he were assigned to the American Hockey League). And precisely on that point, one has to wonder if he thinks he has a chance of playing for the Rocket in '26–'27…

And we also have to wonder how much the qualifying offer would be if he were to play in the American Hockey League. Because in '25–'26, the amount was also $4 million…

(Credit: Screenshot / PuckPedia)

At this point, we can only wait and see how this situation plays out.

But clearly, it may not just be a matter of money that has brought us to this point today…


Quick Thoughts

– It's up to you to answer.

– Only 10 minutes?

– Oh.

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