St. Louis Confirms Dach Is Ready To Go For Camp

Despite confirming that Dach is to start camp as the 2nd line centre, St. Louis also mentioned that they will still need to be careful with his knee as he has missed a lot of time with another knee surgery last year. It sounds like Dach is having trouble keeping up with his knee. St. Louis and his coaching staff will be ready to make changes if things don’t go as well as planned.

Honestly, it isn’t surprising that Dach is ready to start when on-ice camp starts tomorrow, as he looked pretty good running drills with Patrik Laine and Ivan Demidov over the past few weeks at Complex CN in Brossard. However, those drills were run by the players themselves, and it’s very possible Laine and Demidov slowed down a bit to allow Dach to keep up with them. Although he did look pretty fast compared to earlier last season, when he came back from ACL/MCL surgery. It will be interesting to see how he looks throughout camp.

St. Louis’ best quote from the day came as he was talking about what needs to happen when camp starts. He said,”I think what has to happen now, starting tomorrow…the shinny hockey is over. It’s gotta start now. The decisions you make with the puck through the neutral zone have gotta start now. How your alarm goes off from offense to defense has gotta start now. The way we play in our D-zone has gotta start now.”  

The fact that the Habs players have essentially been practicing their individual skills and playing pickup games together over the last few weeks is what St. Louis is likely referring to. He wants to see his players accountable in practice for mistakes and take their errors up the ice seriously from the moment that they hit the ice tomorrow.

The official Training Camp is here, and while the Canadiens may have developed more chemistry among them throughout the summer, that doesn’t mean they are at mid-season form. There may still be some rust for guys like Dach, who haven’t played a real competitive game of hockey since January. To get into game shape, Dach will likely need to play a few preseason games before we can see if he truly can be a 2nd line centre to start the year. 

Compared to last season, the expectations in Dach’s play will be lower, as we have seen how much time it took for him to get back to his normal self. Unfortunately, another injury set him back once again. Given the team’s new status as a team in contention for a playoff spot, St. Louis and his coaching staff will likely be less patient with Dach. Especially with the fact that he would have a healthy Patrik Laine and a potential star rookie in Ivan Demidov as his linemates.

Do you think that Dach will continue to be the 2nd line centre by the end of camp?