Player Discussion Kirby Dach: Welcome to Montreal part 2

[Kimota]

Do we trade him to the Islanders?

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Do we trade him to the Islanders?

No.

 

[Chose]

Is there a report about this? I never saw anything

Here is an audio about it, go to 9min: Martin St-Louis a passé un message hier
It was a radio show, decembre 8th.
(In french)

 

[Jurivan Demidovsky]

Do we trade him to the Islanders?

He gets a free pass for the rest of the season no matter what happens. Next season is a contract year, that's gonna be a make it or break it season for him.

 

[Sorinth]

That was apparently reported by Mathias Brunet on the radio (probably BPM), and brought back by Anthony Marcotte & Tony Marinaro recently refered to it as well.
Reference on MSN:

MSN

It seems suspicious to me that this starts being reported on within the last few weeks rather then when training camp was actually taking place.

 

[WeThreeKings]

Canadiens' Dach facing hard truths, working to grow through adversity

At 23-years-old and coming off a serious knee injury, Kirby Dach is arriving at a crossroads. How he approaches this reality check and how much he invests into the work will come to define the rest of his career. Eric Engels has the story.

www.sportsnet.ca

Dach knew this season was going to be hard for him no matter what, coming off ACL and MCL reconstruction for a knee injury that kept him out of all but two games last season.
“I knew it would take time,” Dach said to us on Wednesday. “I was at home last summer (in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.) watching the Oilers run with my friends, seeing how Connor Brown (who tore his ACL the season prior) had struggled all year before playing amazing in the playoffs, and I was thinking about it.”

“I kind of looked at that maybe three weeks ago and decided to go deeper and just do everything possible to give myself the best chance and give my teammates and coaches the best version of me,” he said. “I committed to finding that extra level of drive and commitment to the game and doing all the little things before and after practice and in the gym and on off-days — treating my body right and making sure I’m doing the right things to feel good for the next day — to build better habits.
“I think there’s a lot of off-ice work and stuff that I do on my own when nobody’s around now. If we have the chance some days, sometimes I’ll get out early when nobody’s around and skate by myself to just get a feel of the puck. And in the gym, it’s not just doing everything hard that one day but more about consistency and building up and doing everything right; not overdoing it, but having that consistency to hopefully change the layout of my season and my trajectory.”
It hasn’t happened yet, but it would never happen if Dach refused to face some hard truths he’s currently grappling with.
We asked him if he’d approach last summer’s preparation for this season differently, and he said, “For sure.”

“I think this year has honestly felt like a bunch of tests,” Dach said. “It’s honestly felt like a lot of learning lessons, a lot of failing, a lot of retaking classes. Through those tough moments, those dark moments, those failures, you learn and become better with it. Over time it builds and you grow into the person and player you want to be. What I’m trying to do is take away those lessons of what maybe I should’ve done last summer and what I need to do next summer and what I’m doing right now in-season and how I need to continue that so that I take it into next summer and build on it and not put myself in a spot where I step further back.”

“I always tell our young players that I’m working more for their future as a player and not necessarily for who they are today as a player,” he said. “That’s part of trying to get your young players to evolve, because that’s what’s best for their future and, even more so, for the future of the team.”
It’s hard to imagine the opposite approach would be better for Dach right now.
His fragile confidence being trampled on won’t help.
“It’s nice to have a coach that believes in you and wants you to get better and doesn’t just shut you out and turn you away,” Dach said. “I think when, as a player, you get into a bad place, your game or your career can go off the rails and leave you without even knowing what’ll be the next step. It’s been nice to have his support, and my teammates’ support, and trainers and everybody here. There have been hard conversations, and there’s been things I’ve needed to clean up in my game on my own. I’m trying to clean that up more and more with each game and be better.”