Montreal Canadiens’ Kirby Dach out with ‘significant’ injury, ‘won’t be short-term’

Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports

What a blow for a young, thriving player.

The Montreal Canadiens announced on Monday that forward Kirby Dach will miss time with a “significant” injury, adding that it won’t be short-term. A specific timeline has not been announced as of yet.

Kirby Dach has a “significant” injury and it won’t be short-term, per Canadiens. Still doing a diagnosis for a more precise timeline, but obvious will be out a while.

— Arpon Basu (@ArponBasu) October 16, 2023

Dach left Montreal’s home opener on Saturday against Chicago with a lower-body injury. Former Canadiens defenseman Jarred Tinordi hit Dach hard into the Blackhawks bench, and Dach didn’t return to the game.

Dach is coming off his best NHL season, with 14 goals and 48 points in 58 games in his first year with Montreal. Had Dach not missed the final 16 games with a lower-body injury, the Canadian-born center would have broken the 50-point barrier for the first time in his career.

Injuries have been a problematic theme for the young forward early in his career. Dach joined Team Canada for the 2021 world juniors, only for a knee injury to limit him to just 18 of 56 regular season games. He missed 12 games in 2021-22 before getting shipped out to Montreal for a fresh start. Dach was part of Montreal’s dangerous second line to kick off 2023-24, registering two assists with Juraj Slafkovsky and Alex Newhook against Toronto on Wednesday.

In 212 games over five seasons, Dach – taken third overall in 2019 – has 33 goals and 99 points between Chicago and Montreal.

Dach’s injury will likely promote Sean Monahan to the first line for the time being. Newhook also has experience at center and could move over before Christian Dvorak – who skated in a non-contact jersey while dealing with a knee injury – eventually returns.

Montreal lost to Toronto 6-5 in overtime on Wednesday before beating Chicago 3-2 on Saturday. They’ll host Minnesota on tuesday before getting a mini-break before Washington comes to town on Saturday.