Calgary Flames trade target: Kirby Dach

The 2026–27 regular season officially starts this week. For the Calgary Flames, expectations aren’t high, as the team is once again expected to miss the playoffs as the rebuild continues. There’s also chatter regarding which players could be on the move, given how the Flames are likely going to be sellers once again.

However, there’s also been talk about the type of players the Flames would look to acquire. GM Craig Conroy has made it known that he’s willing to look into adding players that make sense for the team’s timeline and overall future outlook. The Flames have been connected to multiple players in the rumour mill throughout the last few months, but one insider has once again connected a certain player with the Flames, that player being Montreal Canadiens centreman Kirby Dach.

Seravalli once again mentions Dach as a potential target for the Flames

Per insider Frank Seravalli, he mentions that the Canadiens have received multiple offers for Dach, and the Flames are one of the teams that are keeping close tabs on the 25-year-old. He also mentions that there are “rumblings” that the Flames have checked on Dach’s status since training camp opened.

Now it’s well known that Dach hasn’t had the best injury luck throughout his career. In fact, it’s safe to say that at this point the former third-overall pick has turned out to be a bust, and his poor health hasn’t helped. Dach only played 37 games last season, scoring eight goals and 15 points.

However, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t talent there, as Dach has shown spurts of strong hockey IQ and overall offence. On paper, Dach could make sense for the Flames, but that truly emphasizes the “on paper” side of things.

Dach’s fit with the Flames

With Dach being a centre, as mentioned, the Flames are automatically going to be a team that’ll be in the mix. The projected situation for the Flames down the middle will likely be as follows:

Morgan Frost

Mikael Backlund

Ryan Strome

Martin Pospisil?

It’s definitely a pretty mediocre centre group, but expected from a rebuilding team. Adding Dach into the mix would certainly improve things, but at the same time it’s sort of a redundant addition, as Dach isn’t that much better of a player than someone like Morgan Frost, for example. In some way, you can consider Dach like a Frost 2.0 type player, as the Flames took a chance on Frost hoping he could reach a new level, which hasn’t happened yet. With Dach, I’d imagine it would be the same sort of situation.

What would it take to acquire Dach?

Given Dach’s injury history and current outlook as a player, I’d imagine the ask for Dach wouldn’t be tremendously high. Seravalli reports that the Canadiens were offered a second-round pick by multiple teams for Dach; however, the Canadiens wanted roster help.

I’d imagine someone like Martin Pospisil could maybe interest Montreal. Maybe Pospisil and a mid-round pick for Dach. There’s also the chance that Dach could be a straight-up cap dump, as Montreal only has around $2M in cap space. Dach makes $3.6M, and his deal expires after this season.

Would Dach make sense for the Flames?

Now for the question of whether Dach is a player the Flames should even bother pursuing. Well, I sort of alluded to this by seeing the writing on the wall with Dach, but this is a player who I think the Flames should stay away from.

Dach isn’t old, but he isn’t exactly young either, as he’s had plenty of seasons in the league; unfortunately, he’s never been truly healthy enough to establish himself as a top player. Additionally, Dach isn’t the type of player the Flames need right now. He wouldn’t provide much of a scoring punch to the Flames’ forward group, and it would be better instead to save a roster spot for a young player within the Flames’ system instead.

The only situation where it makes sense to acquire Dach if you’re the Flames is if the team gets a sweetener to take on his contract, especially since it’s ending in 2027. Even then, Dach would be taking up a roster spot, and he isn’t the type of player who really makes sense to add while the rebuild is going on.

Photo Credits: AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty