Player Discussion Kirby Dach: Welcome to Montreal part 2

[Vachon23]

I'm hoping when Armia is healthy, he plays with Suzuki/Caufield. They tried it a bit in pre season. Armia looks better when he plays top 6.

Move Monahan with Dach. They know each other well and I think they work very hard for each other on the ice. Better energy. I thought this this summer after the trade and still think we should do this.

I wonder how much tinkering we should do? I don't see too much chemistry other than Suzuki/Caufield with our forward group.

No problem with trying Armia there, could improve his value !

 

[FF de Mars]

Not sure. Anderson seems to fade away even more when he plays bottom 6. Difficult one to peg into a good spot for his type of game IMO.

He's just not consistent and he's not a perfect power forward type. Still has more value than most will admit but I do think we have issues with trying to find the best spot for him.

He should try to cut through the circle from the boards to unleash a wrister, that's a PF kind of play, he didn't do it when he had the chance yesterday.

 

[Habs Halifax]

He should try to cut through the circle from the boards to unleash a wrister, that's a PF kind of play, he didn't do it when he had the chance yesterday.

Yeah, I've defended Anderson but there are moments of why did you do that? Personally, I think this group is tight but I prefer to see a little more selfish play and shoot the puck FFS. Teams can easily play D against us cause they know we are pass happy.

Anderson has a good shot too. Maybe he should be on a line with Dvorak. Having both Anderson and Gallagher might be our issue. Hard to find the best spots for the both of them. Personally, I'd have Gallager with Evans.

 

[Habs Halifax]

No problem with trying Armia there, could improve his value !

I think Armia protects the puck just as well as Monahan or better (down low and along the walls). He can make things easier for us where Monahan can play with Dach.

 

[Mats26]

Last thread was over 4K.

Start fresh now that's he finally going to be playing regular season games.

Interested to see how he does. With his talent, he should get to 40 points.

Hawks were thinking the same last year.

 

[CHfan1]

I'd agree but I also want to know if Caufield can score without Suzuki holding his hand. Especially since he'll be looking to get big $$$ next year. We already know Suzuki can be good without Caufield, not sure if vice versa is true. If it is, we got ourselves a legit star deserving of that $$$. If he fades, maybe he's not that good yet.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Caufield play with Dach to see if the Habs could spread out the scoring more, instead of one line doing most of the scoring.

But Caufield has scored most of his goals without Suzuki’s help this season. Suzuki’s only assisted on one of Caufield’s 5 goals (the 2 on 1 goal against the Leafs).

 

[Team_Spirit]

 

[Habs Halifax]

Well, yeah, he excelled in championships and showed up to camp in better shape than ever. If not top6, i'd still give him an actual role. Line Armia - Monahan - Dach has crossed my mind few times since the preseason when i noticed Dach is also decent on boards and can cycle the puck.

Armia didn't play too much preseason games but from what I noticed, they did try him with Suzuki/Caufield. They might try it again when he is healthy.

Armia with Dach/Monahan and Anderson with Suzuki/Caufield might work too. No harm in trying it for a non playoff team.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

I think he's been good. He's creating chances for his linemates. Not his fault the only players on the team that have been capable of finishing plays this seasons are Caufield and Suzuki.

He does need to shoot more and get to the middle of the ice more often.

 

[Habs Halifax]

View attachment 599140

17:52 TOI/GP with the Habs so far. He was around 14 min in his 1st season and around 18 min in the next two seasons with the Blackhawks.

Lots more room to grow but I wonder if we have stable wingers for him moving forward.

 

[Leon Lucius Black]

It doesn't make sense to have a gifted passer like Dach play with Drouin, who doesn't know how to shoot a puck. Anderson also doesn't mesh well with him as he's more of a north/south guy.

Once Slaf and Armia are back, I'd put them with Dach. Slaf would get a lot of scoring opportunities playing with Dach and he's one of the few guys on this team who can shoot the puck. Armia is good at forechecking and can cause turnovers which would help the two young guys.

Caufield - Suzuki - Monahan
Slafkovsky - Dach - Armia
Drouin - Dvorak - Anderson
Pitlick - Evans - Gallagher

 

[Beer and Chips]

All the tools are there, but it looks like he still needs quite a bit of development. I can see why hawks fans were frustrated.

Not sure exactly what’s missing.

Desire? Sometimes you have to go to the net and be aggressive. OT but everyone on the PP seems to be waiting for someone else to do something.

 

[Captain Mountain]

I thought that because the Habs were rebuilding/retooling, some posters would be more reasonable, patient and nuanced in their analysis of players. I see that that is not the case.

 

[Deebs]

Kirby should be getting loads of #1 powerplay time

 

[Mrb1p]

I think he's been good. He's creating chances for his linemates. Not his fault the only players on the team that have been capable of finishing plays this seasons are Caufield and Suzuki.

He does need to shoot more and get to the middle of the ice more often.

It is kinda his fault. He is a perimeter player and defer to his teammate too much. You dont see people say this about Nick and Cole, because they take matter on their own hands, they challenge defenders, etc.

Dach is every bit as talented as them and should be every bit as good as them.

 

[Andrei79]

Yes, its true.

But this attitude is transfered to day to day evaluation too, lol. Dach was floating all game yesterday, was he not? Somehow youre a hater for bringing it up.

Slaf isnt ready for the NHL, we see this before our eyes, somehow you're a hater for bringing it up.

And on and on.

I would venture comments like "sux" which fly in the face of what most people are seeing and are simply meant to be divisive either don't get a positive reaction or are just generally not worth anyones time. I've liked a lot of what Dach has done and I also see weaknesses I'd like improved. The upside seems pretty evident and "sux" is definitely not how I'd qualify his play.

 

[BenchBrawl]

My expectations for him are neither low nor high. We got him for Romanov; I expect him to be the equivalent at forward. A strong 3rd line center, or a good 2nd line center. Hopefully he elevates his play in the playoffs too, when we get there and he has a few more seasons under his belt.

His reach is impressive. I hope he becomes better and better defensively. A tall man like him who excels at the defensive end while providing secondary scoring would be invaluable. Maybe he will explode into an offensive star but it seems premature to expect that right now.

 

[Peteux]

You need to understand a really strange dynamic that plays out here, and has played out here for several years now.

There is a contingent of "fans" here who like to pretend they are really well versed in the league and they are very eager to share their thoughts and opinions on players, usually after a transaction has been made but they never seem to care if they actually know what they are talking about.

They weight in, authoritatively, on a player despite not knowing much or in some cases anything at all about the player.

Once they have shared that opinion - and let's remember, it's often not based on anything at all, usually just a cursory glance at the players hockeydb page - they will not change that opinion no matter what happens.

They would rather be "right" about what they said then have the team succeed.

All kinds of bozos who knew precious little about Kirby Dach at the time he was acquired were quick to the hit the message board to tell everyone how bad the trade was. Now, no matter what Dach does, those same people will continue to tell you had bad he is by grossly exaggerating any shortcomings and largely ignoring any positives.

This nonsense has plagued this place for about ten years now and it's getting worse, not better.

Great post. Don't even begin to think that it's only on HFBoards, it's everywhere (BPM, Facebook, Twitter...).

For Dach, specificaly, I loved how transparent Hughes was during his press conferences. The contract is a gamble, it'll take time and they'll give him time. He has a lot of tools and I'm very curious of what he can become under proper coaching. This is why hasty radical opinions on Dach get on my nerves; he still has a lot of room to grow as a player and this year is meaningless and he gets some bad wingers from time to time.

He's still very young. For Dach (and other rookies or young players), this year is all about getting better. Rookies and young players often have consistency problems. I can understand someone wanting to waive Hoffman after a game, even if it"s very reactionary, but I'll never understand people being hard on rookies and young players.

 

[Mrb1p]

I would venture comments like "sux" which fly in the face of what most people are seeing and are simply meant to be divisive either don't get a positive reaction or are just generally not worth anyones time. I've liked a lot of what Dach has done and I also see weaknesses I'd like improved. The upside seems pretty evident and "sux" is definitely not how I'd qualify his play.

I guess its hard to read the first point I made, saying he probably will never reach the ceiling I attributed him by scouting him because he doesnt seem to have the drive for it. A situation that truly sucks.

Is it because you think he will be a 1C or that this situation doesnt suck? Or did you assume I said he sucked because you have preconceived bias about me because of people like Redux who have the same preconceived bias?

Im sure youre well informed on the multiple herd mentality/behavior in psychology.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

He's so good at passing that he's overpassing sometimes!

He’s so good at passing he’s got 2 whole assists!!!

 

[Andrei79]

I guess its hard to read the first point I made, saying he probably will never reach the ceiling I attributed him by scouting him because he doesnt seem to have the drive for it. A situation that truly sucks.

Is it because you think he will be a 1C or that this situation doesnt suck? Or did you assume I said he sucked because you have preconceived bias about me because of people like Redux who have the same preconceived bias?

Im sure youre well informed on the multiple herd mentality/behavior in psychology.

It's the extremes and the way things are describe with very little nuance. Your good points get lost in the shuffle. And you know I could care less about what other posters think lol. In any case, to answer your question, I don't expect Romanov to garner a first line C and Dach hasn't really had a trajectory compatible with one since the draft. Maybe a high end 3C or a 2nd line C ? He's shown enough good things to be hopeful that happens. He'd have to fix a number of things to even be as good or better than Suzuki (i.e. a mid to low range 1C) and if someone has that expectation they'll be either disappointed or will magnify his weaknesses, hoping for an outlier event. I also won't lie, with the avatar change I didn't even realise if was you lmao.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

That's fair to some degree. I do respect your approach of not being afraid to go against the grain and you don't care about the popular bandwagon.

Hughes is off to a good start. Lots of work left. I'm just glad that we are in a new direction. Bergevin was so unpopular that is was a distraction IMO.

Generally like what Hughes is trying to do. His two biggest deals I haven’t been a fan of. Dach and Slaf, I hope they both work out. I think Romy was by far the more proven player at this point and
Dach isn’t a horse I would have bet on, but I believe the thought process was sound. Might turn out and he will look like a genius.

 

[Rob Sense]

He’s so good at passing he’s got 2 whole assists!!!

How many goals does his wingers have? Therein lies the problem.

 

[Gravity]

I try to be optimistic about Dach. It's only been what? 6 games? However, he just seems so passive in his play. No drive/intensity and no cutting to the middle. Hope they can work with him on this.

 

[BehindTheTimes]

His play style is hard to watch. Perimeter player that floats way too much. He’s our new patches without the shot. Don’t think he lasts 4 years here. Ppl ride Drouin and this guy has less intensity than him. Nothing has changed for Dach.

How many goals does his wingers have? Therein lies the problem.

All those great passes haven’t amounted to very much. Even when playing with the terrible Patrick Kane.