Player Discussion Kirby Dach: Welcome to Montreal

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Danault would've been preferable in the short term, but in the long term, with the perspective of Weber, Price and Petry going out soon, investing long term in Danault made less sense. We would inevitably head towards a major roster turnover, which meant drafting high for at least 2-3 years with a high chance at a talented center in the interval, making the later part of Danault's contract a bit more problematic as he would be a high cost as a 3rd string guy.

Danault would be a player lot of teams would like to acquire for a trade in 3 or 4 years, even if he slow down a bit.
Danault cost only 1M more than Dvorak. Short term, middle term and long term, I need to be convinced Dvorak is a better choice than Danault. There is a narrative Danault will decline when he'll get 32 or 33 years old. Nobody knows for sure. Danault have a good fluid skating, he's not skating badly so I think he can keep that skating advantage for a long time, until he reach 34. His face off skills will always be there and his defensive IQ will be there. I repeat myself : at worst, he will be a good trading asset when he will be 33. On the other hand, Dvorak is 26 and is a difficult player to trade, unless MSL change him into a better player.

 

[Adam Michaels]

yeah, he is so special, Chicago didn't want him, LOL

I guess DeBrincat wasn't special, either, right?

 

[SlafySZN]

Danault would be a player lot of teams would like to acquire for a trade in 3 or 4 years, even if he slow down a bit.
Danault cost only 1M more than Dvorak. Short term, middle term and long term, I need to be convinced Dvorak is a better choice than Danault. There is a narrative Danault will decline when he'll get 32 or 33 years old. Nobody knows for sure. Danault have a good fluid skating, he's not skating badly so I think he can keep that skating advantage for a long time, until he reach 34. His face off skills will always be there and his defensive IQ will be there. I repeat myself : at worst, he will be a good trading asset when he will be 33. On the other hand, Dvorak is 26 and is a difficult player to trade, unless MSL change him into a better player.

Dvorak a difficult player to trade? I don’t think so, at all. He’s a 26 years old 3rd line center on a great contract, more than excellent on faceoffs. He had 57% this year and Danault 54% by the way!

 

[malcb33]

Danault would be a player lot of teams would like to acquire for a trade in 3 or 4 years, even if he slow down a bit.
Danault cost only 1M more than Dvorak. Short term, middle term and long term, I need to be convinced Dvorak is a better choice than Danault. There is a narrative Danault will decline when he'll get 32 or 33 years old. Nobody knows for sure. Danault have a good fluid skating, he's not skating badly so I think he can keep that skating advantage for a long time, until he reach 34. His face off skills will always be there and his defensive IQ will be there. I repeat myself : at worst, he will be a good trading asset when he will be 33. On the other hand, Dvorak is 26 and is a difficult player to trade, unless MSL change him into a better player.

I don’t really understand the Dvo and Danualt comparison. Dvorak wasn’t really brought in to replace Danualt directly, but more to fill the void of losing both KK and Danualt collectively.

It’s easy to say that “we” should have kept Danualt in hindsight, but when that decision was made the landscape was very different, as mgmt thought they had 2 young centres locked up.

Danualt also just had a career year on a team who was much better than MTL last year. I’m not convinced Danualt would have come close to those stats playing on the disaster of a team we had last year (under DD).

 

[Miller Time]

By all indications, Dach has a great attitude & work ethic...

With a full, healthy offseason, at his age, there is ample reason to believe he'll make good progress this season. The bigger question imo is "how big".

I think a 40pt season (or pace, should he miss time to injury), while being a reliable 2-way C is a very reasonable base expectation.

If he really breaks out, we could be looking at a much bigger production jump.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Dvorak a difficult player to trade? I don’t think so, at all. He’s a 26 years old 3rd line center on a great contract, more than excellent on faceoffs. He had 57% this year and Danault 54% by the way!

Danault last year : +14
Dvorak last year : -19
Carreer Danault : always in the plus except his two first years Chi and Mtl (-3, -2)
Carreer Dvorak : most of the time in the minus (-19, - 11, -19)

Phillip Danault Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Phillip Danault, a hockey player from Victoriaville, PQ born Feb 24 1993 who was active from 2009 to 2024.

www.hockeydb.com

Christian Dvorak Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Christian Dvorak, a hockey player from Palos Heights, IL born Feb 2 1996 who was active from 2012 to 2025.

www.hockeydb.com

What I saw from my eyes test is Dvorak is an above average skater. At the age of 26 it looks bad.
It doesn't fit for any winning team, especially in the Atlantic division. Unless he was playing with an injury.

 

[SlafySZN]

Danault last year : +14
Dvorak last year : -19
Carreer Danault : always in the plus except his two first years Chi and Mtl (-3, -2)
Carreer Dvorak : most of the time in the minus (-19, - 11, -19)

Phillip Danault Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Phillip Danault, a hockey player from Victoriaville, PQ born Feb 24 1993 who was active from 2009 to 2024.

www.hockeydb.com

Christian Dvorak Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of Christian Dvorak, a hockey player from Palos Heights, IL born Feb 2 1996 who was active from 2012 to 2025.

www.hockeydb.com

What I saw from my eyes test is Dvorak is an above average skater. At the age of 26 it looks bad.
It doesn't fit for any winning team, especially in the Atlantic division. Unless he was playing with an injury.

You can’t point out the + -

One played on a team who made the playoffs and the other on the last place team.

 

[Hins77]

I just don’t see Romanov getting a huge step in his game. I mean, what tou see is what you get. He hits hard, but offensively, he doesnt have huges tools. If Dach remains a 3rd centerman. It will be a bad trade for Montreal, but he has the potential to become more than that. Thats a guess. If Dach came back this year with 50/60 pts. No way, you could trade romanov for him.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

You can’t point out the + -

One played on a team who made the playoffs and the other on the last place team.

Danault had + stats when the team didn't make the PO. Danault, Gally and Tatar were the only players with a + stats and the rest of the team were in the -.

 

[le_sean]

Should have not traded Romanov in the first place.

We traded from a position of strength (LD) for a position of weakness (C). It’s a calculated risk. But if Dach starts hitting his potential, there’s no chance in hell you could get a player of his caliber for a player of Romanov’s.

 

[Team_Spirit]

That yellow suit jersey is a disgrace burn it

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

I don’t really understand the Dvo and Danualt comparison. Dvorak wasn’t really brought in to replace Danualt directly, but more to fill the void of losing both KK and Danualt collectively.

It’s easy to say that “we” should have kept Danualt in hindsight, but when that decision was made the landscape was very different, as mgmt thought they had 2 young centres locked up.

Danualt also just had a career year on a team who was much better than MTL last year. I’m not convinced Danualt would have come close to those stats playing on the disaster of a team we had last year (under DD).

I guess your tools are yellow and are Dewalt brand, lol. Why you write his name like 5 times and repeat the same mistake? It's Denault and not Denualt. Denualt doesn't exist as a name and it's prononced strange. Danault is prononced simply as Dano. End of writing lesson.

KK was still a project at C position and nobody knows where he would fit in 3 years. 2C or 3C. If Dvorak wasn't bring to replace Danault, who was supposed to replace him? Evans who is injury prone or Poehling who never took the next step? When a gm have one of the best defensive C in the league and he let him walk for a .5M difference, he just shows how incompetent he is. Danault was thinking he had more tools in his pocket than just being a good shut down C and he was right. He scored 26g last year with a complete new trio and a new team. Nobody knew Arvidsson and Moore were that good. I read things like the whole team was going to collapse and it was useless to have a good team. Like we know that team would suck so bad after getting into the SC finals so why try to keep a good player, let's suck badly, like if that was a way to built a team. By destroying everything. I could be a gm who destroy a team, it's easy and I would be paid 1 million to do that. You, your brother, your sister, your mother and your kid can do the same. Tanking is easy but why sign players too long like Hoffman, Armia and Dvorak if your goal is to rebuilt? When Weber, Petry, Anderson, Price and Gallagher already have big contracts for too long. This is a serie of non-sence moves that will make that team rebuilt years too long. It's sure Price doesn't fit in the next window in 3 or 4 years. Ok I have to stop now and chill, lol.

 

[jrom]

Since it's been already said that we got a Jagr in Slafkovsky, I assume Dach is our Messier?

Yes and you are our Scotty Bowman

 

[417]

HuGo seemed so hell-bent at acquiring this guy, yet he's still unsigned. What gives? Not very fond of this trade. He certainly wasn't worth a first and third. A typical bergevesque move is how I like to describe it, going after reclaimation projects and hoping for the best. But this one was costly.

What's the rush?

 

[BehindTheTimes]

Lou gave a 13OA pick for a young inconsistent dman who has shown zero offensive ability in his young career and has never been projected to be a point producer.

Had the habs traded their 13OA for a dman of similar caliber, we would be trashing our GM.

The habs traded their 13OA for a player picked 3rd overall three years ago. The last time we traded for a player selected 3rd it cost the team Sergachev.

The chances of that 13th pick becoming a better player than Romanov are not good.

 

[SpeedyPotato]

I hope it works out but have my doubts. Dach doesn't have any tangibles. He's not fast, not a good shot, big but soft, not good on faceoffs. I see him ending up as mid line winger

He's actually a solid skater and isn't soft at all ...

yeah, he is so special, Chicago didn't want him, LOL

Wow you just keep digging your own grave don't you? They traded Debrincat for 7th overall and a 2nd rounder, what does that tell you about Chicago right now and their asset management?

 

[Whalers Fan]

A 22 year old defenseman though, he's only started to mature. Dach is exceptional bad in faceoffs. As top 2 center he has to win faceoffs in offensive zone. He's going to end up on wing. Doesn't have goal scorer hands, 40-50 points most he will top out at. There's not much value there. He's big but doesn't play big. It's just not there. He's another Pouliot.

So, Romanov is 22 and only starting to mature, but Dach at 21 is done developing?

 

[dcyhabs]

Dvorak a difficult player to trade? I don’t think so, at all. He’s a 26 years old 3rd line center on a great contract, more than excellent on faceoffs. He had 57% this year and Danault 54% by the way!

Dvorak was really, really available for a long time before the habs acquired him. Maybe there is more demand now.

 

[Justsayin]

The chances of that 13th pick becoming a better player than Romanov are not good.

In that case, trading it for Dach was brilliant.

 

[PeteWorrell]

Dvorak was really, really available for a long time before the habs acquired him. Maybe there is more demand now.

Jakob Chychrun has also been on the market for a while now and still no trade. The Coyotes are simply in no rush to trade their players and will wait patiently for the right offer to come. They are not up against the cap like the Golden Knights where they have to make a move out of desperation.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Jakob Chychrun has also been on the market for a while now and still no trade. The Coyotes are simply in no rush to trade their players and will wait patiently for the right offer to come. They are not up against the cap like the Golden Knights where they have to make a move out of desperation.

I wonder if the Yotes can take back Dvorak. If they want to tank, he's the right guy.

 

[Runner77]

I wonder if the Yotes can take back Dvorak. If they want to tank, he's the right guy.

Why would they? They couldn’t wait to get rid of him and held firm on their asking price until Bergevin bit.

I think he’ll have appeal for some other team once the main guys have settled.

 

[Catanddogguitarrr]

Second line centre in Montreal

One of the worst in the league, except if we take only when he played for MSL.
MSL must be an excellent motivator. I'm curious if he's only a motivator and not a great coach for the rest of his job.
But keeping Dvorak means the Habs will suck and they will tank again. But when it will be time to trade him, I hope he can land at least a 2nd round choice.

 

[SlafySZN]

Second line centre in Montreal

He’s a 3rd line center. That’s what Dvorak is. You can put him on the 2nd if you want but he’s still a 3rd line center.

 

[dcyhabs]

He’s a 3rd line center. That’s what Dvorak is. You can put him on the 2nd if you want but he’s still a 3rd line center.

But not a shutdown center, so he's a third line center because he's not a second line center, not because he's actually suited to the role.