The Montreal Canadiens have received some unfortunate news as 24 year old forward Kirby Dach is likely to miss the start of training camp as he continues to rehab from knee surgery recovery according to Maxime Truman.
Dach has struggled with injuries throughout his 6 year NHL career thus far. This latest setback is a result of a knee injury sustained last season that forced him to have surgery 5 months ago.
This is not the first serious injury Kirby has had in his young career. He dealt with a wrist injury in 2020 sustained while playing for Team Canada in the 2020 World Juniors tournament. He then had his first knee surgery done in 2023 after he tore his ACL in a game against his former club the Chicago Blackhawks.
Kirby recorded 10 goals and 12 assists for 22 points in 57 games last season with the Habs. He has been with the organization since the 22-23 season when he was traded there from Chicago in exchange for a 1st round draft pick that became Frank Nazar. Throughout his stint in Montreal, similar to Chicago, Dach has shown promise when healthy but has consistently faced health setbacks.
This begs the question of what the Montreal Canadiens do at center if Kirby Dach is not ready to go by the start of the season. The Habs are still hoping Dach can be their 2C of the future. But if these injury issues persist in the future they may need to go another route to plug this hole in the lineup or hope the solution is somewhere within the organization.
