Montreal Canadiens forward Kirby Dach continues to recover from knee surgery. The 2024-25 campaign for the 24-year-old ended early, as he underwent knee surgery in February. He just took his next step towards returning to the Canadiens' lineup. He took to the ice in full pads this morning, participating in an informal skate.
Dach is recovering from his second major knee surgery. In October of 2023, he exited a game against the Chicago Blackhawks after being hit into the boards by Jarred Tinordi. It ended up being a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL), which required season-ending surgery.
The former No. 3 overall pick of the Blackhawks would return to open the 2024-25 campaign against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He had the assist on the only goal of the game as the Canadiens defeated the Maple Leafs 1-0.
He went on to play 57 contests in the campaign, finding the back of the net 10 times while adding 12 assists. Further, he was solid on the powerplay with a goal and six assists. Now he returns to the ice in the hopes of playing his first full season as a Canadien, and being the second-line center he was acquired to be.
Kirby Dach returning to lineup will be massive for Canadiens
The return of a talented center like Dach to the lineup will be major for the Canadiens. They lost one of their depth forwards with Christian Dvorak moving on to the Philadelphia Flyers. Dach is expected to join Zack Bolduc and Ivan Demidov on the second line. This would give the team a solid second unit behind the combination of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky.
He is also expected to join Bolduc and key offseason acquisition Noah Dobson on the second power play unit. The team was 21st in the NHL on the power play in 2024-25, and having Dach back on the second unit should improve the man advantage overall. Before the knee injuries, he had six goals and 10 assists on the powerplay in 2022-23.
Dach is still just 24 years old, while going into his seventh NHL season. There is still time for him to turn around his young career, and getting back on the ice is an important step for the Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta native.
