Montreal Canadiens Trade Talk: Kirby Dach’s Name Surfacing

In his latest 32 Thoughts podcast, Hockey insider Elliotte Friedman briefly discussed the possibility that Montreal Canadiens forward Kirby Dach would interest a team such as the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The basis of the discussion was that Kyle Dubas, the Penguins’ general manager, is likely looking for players around the league that could benefit from a fresh start in a new market, similar to the strategy used by Kent Hughes when he originally acquired Dach.

Now, before anyone gets mad, or starts tagging Friedman on social media with fiery responses, we have to acknowledge that Friedman was simply discussing the possibility of a trade. He did not give the impression that anything was imminent.

But given that Dach has had a very slow start to the season, there is some logic behind the idea, and just as we did when evaluating a potential trade involving veteran defenceman Mike Matheson, there’s no harm in discussing the idea.

Dach has scored just one goal and seven assists in 22 games, on pace for just 30 points, which is a clear regression in his overall production. To make matters more difficult, his fantastic underlying numbers have collapsed faster than a paper house floating on the Amazon River.

He went from a player who made a significant and important impact during every shift, to a player who is an anchor on his teammates’ results. His skill in transition is yet to surface, and it’s quite clear he’s making poor decisions, an issue that goes beyond rust.

“Watching Kirby Dach in Montreal,” explained Friedman, “It was just last week that he was up to 19 minutes per game, twice in a row. Since then, he’s been back down, 15 and a half, 16 and a half minutes. And the last two games, including Wednesday, under 15 minutes.

“Obviously, Montreal has a lot of young players, with more to come. But I’m sitting here wondering who else could Pittsburgh target? I’m not saying they’re talking to Montreal or anything like that, but I’m just saying, if you’re looking for guys that Kyle Dubas could look at and say “This is another one worth taking a shot at. What would he learn with the likes of Malkin and Crosby?”, I can’t help but wonder about Kirby Dach being that kind of guy.”

Kyle Bukauskas, one of the nicest people you’ll meet in the hockey landscape, was quick to point out the Canadiens are far from the stage where they’d consider moving Dach.

“I’m hesitant for a team like Montreal,” said Bukauskas. “To give up on a young player this early. That’s certainly not Jeff Gorton or Kent Hughes’ modus operandi.”

I will never fault Friedman for discussing any manner of hockey topic. He’s the most popular insider in the league, and he is bound to make endless radio appearances, TV hits, and podcast. It comes with the territory.

He discusses all 32 teams, which means his time is limited, and thus, it’s impossible for him to have a perfect picture of what’s going on in every organization. He does a very good job in that regard, mind you, but perfection is not realistic.

That being said, Bukauskas immediately identified the main issue with the framework of this deal. The Canadiens have absolutely no intentions of moving on from Dach, as his current value on the NHL’s trade market is probably at an all-time low when we consider his injury history.

Therefore, you’d have to expect a limited return, unlike what the Habs paid to acquire Dach in the first place. Alexander Romanov was the player who originally fetched the pick that was then sent to the Chicago Blackhawks, and that’s a pretty good price, even if we include the third-round pick the Habs packaged with Romanov to get the deal done with the New York Islanders.

But the fact remains the Canadiens used the 13th overall pick to acquire Dach, not to mention an early third-round pick as well.

The Blackhawks used that pick to select Frank Nazar, a highly-skilled centre who had great numbers in the NCAA, and is currently setting the AHL on fire during his rookie season. Now, it’s only fair to say the Habs wouldn’t have necessarily picked the same guy, or that they wouldn’t have made the Romanov trade in the first place if Dach wasn’t in play, however, the reality is the Habs moved two good assets to acquire Dach.

We often discuss the importance of asset management in the NHL, and though it’s not always possible maximize value, as Bukauskas mentioned, this is absolutely not the M.O. in which the team’s management group has used since taking over from the previous regime. They will remain patient in Dach’s case.

Of course, if the Penguins offer a fantastic return, any player should be available, but it’s also important to remember their talented prospects are few and far between. They do own their first-round pick in 2025, and it’s projecting as a fairly decent pick, as the Penguins are currently 28th in the league, just one point up on the Habs.

A good pick could end up enticing Hughes and Co., but at this point in the rebuild, a player who is still 3–4 years away from making a positive impact does very little good to bolster the current lineup. Unless there’s another Ivan Demidov in play, it’s unlikely the Canadiens would want to explore a trade with the Penguins involving Kirby Dach.