Player Discussion Kirby Dach: Welcome to Montreal part 2

[HuGort]

I feel like he's going to be overrated all his career like Anderson was. He's going to be 27 and people will still be like ''this is it, this is his year!''

Nah man, it'll never be. He just doesn't have it.

Dach had a lot of injuries. Some take a lot of time to recover. Some never the same. Weber and Koivu were never the same. Gallagher this season is his old self. He was annual 30+ goal scorer. Well, late last season he played good also. Last 30-40 games he must have good numbers.

 

[le_sean]

I feel like he's going to be overrated all his career like Anderson was. He's going to be 27 and people will still be like ''this is it, this is his year!''

Nah man, it'll never be. He just doesn't have it.

He’s had his moments where he shows his edge. He was showing it a lot more at the second half of the 2022-23 season. Playing big boy hockey. But now he’s being way too inconsistent with it. And people will say it’s just a lack of confidence, but this criticism has been with him since his draft year.

I just don’t understand how you can be 6’3 and heavy yet only play physical once in a blue moon. It’s like Josh Anderson. Man up. Not producing? Hit someone. Get involved.

 

[Wats]

Really hope this is all the rust. He showed so much promise.

 

[salbutera]

He’s had his moments where he shows his edge. He was showing it a lot more at the second half of the 2022-23 season. Playing big boy hockey. But now he’s being way too inconsistent with it. And people will say it’s just a lack of confidence, but this criticism has been with him since his draft year.

I just don’t understand how you can be 6’3 and heavy yet only play physical once in a blue moon. It’s like Josh Anderson. Man up. Not producing? Hit someone. Get involved.

Consistently playing physical w offense would’ve had Anderson on a $10M contract

 

[WeThreeKings]

He’s had his moments where he shows his edge. He was showing it a lot more at the second half of the 2022-23 season. Playing big boy hockey. But now he’s being way too inconsistent with it. And people will say it’s just a lack of confidence, but this criticism has been with him since his draft year.

I just don’t understand how you can be 6’3 and heavy yet only play physical once in a blue moon. It’s like Josh Anderson. Man up. Not producing? Hit someone. Get involved.

He was hitting people last night.. he's got an edge, it just becomes less noticeable when it's happening behind the play because he isn't moving his feet.

Big players moving their feet consistently is always an issue that usually comes out through experience, it's not a coincidence that Slaf and Dach are the two players who have this issue right now.

 

[The Great Weal]

Really hope this is all the rust. He showed so much promise.

He showed so much promise as a 2C for what, 20-25 games? The mistakes I can live with for now, the not giving a f*** is not something I can tolerate.

 

[Rapala]

He’s had his moments where he shows his edge. He was showing it a lot more at the second half of the 2022-23 season. Playing big boy hockey. But now he’s being way too inconsistent with it. And people will say it’s just a lack of confidence, but this criticism has been with him since his draft year.

I just don’t understand how you can be 6’3 and heavy yet only play physical once in a blue moon. It’s like Josh Anderson. Man up. Not producing? Hit someone. Get involved.

For me he's behind the play and trying to get physical in that situation isn't a good idea.
I also sense some trepidation in his play along the wall but that should go away with time.
He needs to gain half a step to get back to stripping pucks and wrecking havoc like he was before the injury.
To be fair Suzuki and Caufield are on their own planet and there is no cohesion whatsoever.
That those two guys haven't been split yet is beyond me. It was the first line adjustment that should have happened.

 

[WeThreeKings]

He showed so much promise as a 2C for what, 20-25 games? The mistakes I can live with for now, the not giving a f*** is not something I can tolerate.

He gives a f***, I don't think that's the question.

He and Slaf aren't moving their feet consistently and that's a problem with big guys.

 

[le_sean]

For me he's behind the play and trying to get physical in that situation isn't a good idea.
I also sense some trepidation in his play along the wall but that should go away with time.
He needs to gain half a step to get back to stripping pucks and wrecking havoc like he was before the injury.
To be fair Suzuki and Caufield are on their own planet and there is no cohesion whatsoever.
That those two guys haven't been split yet is beyond me. It was the first line adjustment that should have happened.

Always thought Caufield would be better with Dach as his centre. Maybe it’s one way to get him going. Everyone knows he’s never going to shoot, so why not have him pass the puck to our best sniper?

 

[WeThreeKings]

Always thought Caufield would be better with Dach as his centre. Maybe it’s one way to get him going. Everyone knows he’s never going to shoot, so why not have him pass the puck to our best sniper?

Can't do that.. Suzuki is on the ice when Caufield scores goals so that magical chemistry can't be broken.

 

[Rapala]

Always thought Caufield would be better with Dach as his centre. Maybe it’s one way to get him going. Everyone knows he’s never going to shoot, so why not have him pass the puck to our best sniper?

Yup I was suggesting that was the way to go long before Laine was even a possibility.
Once we got Laine it kind of made sense to leave him be until he got his feet under himself.
But I even imagined Laine eventually replacing Caufield on that first line if all went well.

 

[Habssince89]

Way way wayyyy too premature to write off Kirby.

 

[Rapala]

Can't do that.. Suzuki is on the ice when Caufield scores goals so that magical chemistry can't be broken.

I've always felt there are only so many goals to go around per line.
Last season Suzuki was the finisher and Caufield was making plays and it seemed to work.
This year it's the complete opposite but Caufield isn't making plays for some reason.
We have two guys who can score goals on a team starved for goal scoring it's about time we split them up.

 

[The Great Weal]

He gives a f***, I don't think that's the question.

He and Slaf aren't moving their feet consistently and that's a problem with big guys.

I've lost count how many times he just glides or stands still waiting for Suzuki and Caufield to do all the work. He's a 6'4 guy letting 5'7 Caufield try to win board battles because he's not bothering to get in there.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

I've lost count how many times he just glides or stands still waiting for Suzuki and Caufield to do all the work. He's a 6'4 guy letting 5'7 Caufield try to win board battles because he's not bothering to get in there.

He's not the Kirby Dach that we've seen in the past. He was so good before.

I have to wonder if it's the system. Because they're ALL playing off.

 

[WeThreeKings]

I've lost count how many times he just glides or stands still waiting for Suzuki and Caufield to do all the work. He's a 6'4 guy letting 5'7 Caufield try to win board battles because he's not bothering to get in there.

Yes, he's not moving his feet.. it's not because he doesn't care, he's just not moving his feet, that happens with bigger guys especially if they're not up to speed, which he isn't.

He needs to find a way to be effective even while trying to recover from the missed time and that creates off timing, and the easiest way to do that is start moving your feet.. him and Slaf both need to do that.

This is where Marty needs to have some accountability installed and be okay with losing the game because neither Slaf or Dach saw the ice in the second half of the game, but there needs to be a message that it's a prerequisite to play on the team that you move your feet every shift.. you come to the bench one shift after not meeting that requirement, you get a warning, you come a second time, you miss your next shift, you do it a third time and you are watching the game from the bench with Marty.

 

[Spearmint Rhino]

Hughes pretty much put all his chips on Dach being ready to be the 2C and carry a line. It’s not something he’s ever really done let alone coming back from a year off. Maybe a healthy Laine changes things but again relying on maybes. It’s not fair but Dach’s struggles have necessitated the blender upfront trying to get Kirby going which has now nobody going except surprisingly some of the vets.

Move Slaf back to the first line and Dach down to 3C for a bit, maybe some easier match ups will help get the rust off, if he’s topped out as a RW then our biggest need is back to a 2C, need to find that out sooner than later.

 

[HuGort]

We tried many from wing to center, Galchenyuk, Drouin, now Dach. Most don't cut it. Takes some of them awhile to be a top center also. If we can't draft elite center, give up top young player for proven veteran center

Faceoffs and defensive responsibility usually takes time for young center

 

[Tyson]

Take him off the top 2 lines until he gets his confidence back

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I've lost count how many times he just glides or stands still waiting for Suzuki and Caufield to do all the work. He's a 6'4 guy letting 5'7 Caufield try to win board battles because he's not bothering to get in there.

Notice how Caufield was forecheck 1 all game last game , I much prefer to have Slaf barelling down on them

 

[angusyoung]

Is he a winger? is he a center? is he damaged goods? is he not what he was expected to be or will be?

Sounding like one of those daytime soap serials.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Not even talking about it if Suzuki is paying attention to the beauty play and pass he made.

Hes had some absolutely brilliant Flashes of being himself again and is being let down when he does, then it's a confidence battle, like it is for the entire team to get back into a spot to make another play.

Starting out the season with a massive confidence and execution problem for the whole team extending into a low energy slump, and everyone looks bad.

As Dach said tonight only way out is through but there's not enough effort and will right now to get through.

 

[Picaroon]

Way way wayyyy too premature to write off Kirby.

So true. People really don't seem to realize how long it takes to come back from an ACL tear (and mcl). It's honestly not unreasonable to expect him to take the full season to get his game back. I don't think it will take that long but expecting him to be back to himself after 15 games is pretty crazy.

 

[Miller Time]

Not even talking about it if Suzuki is paying attention to the beauty play and pass he made.

Hes had some absolutely brilliant Flashes of being himself again and is being let down when he does, then it's a confidence battle, like it is for the entire team to get back into a spot to make another play.

Starting out the season with a massive confidence and execution problem for the whole team extending into a low energy slump, and everyone looks bad.

As Dach said tonight only way out is through but there's not enough effort and will right now to get through.

Indeed. Flashes are clearly there.

On him to rebuild his confidence to the point of not letting each unrealized play deflate him... He'll have to figure that out if he's going to become the top line caliber player he has the obvious potential to be.

KH should consider long and hard the merit of targeting an established /veteran top line player that has the work ethic & off ice behaviors to role model that consistency for our young fwd group.

While rolling the dice on Laine was an attempt (at least from the top line talent pov)
I bet he's kicking himself a bit for not rolling the dice on a 5 year commitment to Monahan or Marchessault (whom rumor has it we did offer 4 yrs to at a higher AAV than Nash, but we wouldn't match the 5th year & total comp).

 

[expy]

Get rid of this guy -- he's done.