On Wednesday, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre declared that Lane Hutson was one of the 3 untouchable players of the Canadiens. The question was asked to many experts at BPM Sports in the last few days, and the lineup almost always includes Nick Suzuki and Juraj Slafkovsky, but the third player changes often.
On Thursday, Denis Gauthier answered the question that Kirby Dach is one of the intangibles of the Canadian Yaroslav Askarov is now a member of the San Jose Sharks.
The Preds granted their desire to be traded… And even if they decided to send him elsewhere, Barry Trotz is disappointed to see the prospect go because he had a plan for him.
This makes the Preds GM think that today’s youngsters have too much power in the NHL: When you think of Kirby Dach, you can’t help but realize how often he gets injured. He has missed a total of 104 games over the past two seasons.
But Gauthier bases his opinion on what he saw in training camp last year and in Dach’s first two games of the season.
The 6-foot-4 forward turned heads during training camp and his performance was nearly perfect. He finished the preseason with three points in four games.
His start to the season was also going in the right direction. He recorded two points in two games before suffering an injury that kept him out for the entire season.
We are talking about a center who should be able to lead a second line, but he needs to stay healthy. And here is the problem. Denis Gauthier is aware of all this. He is convinced that Kirby Dach is untouchable in Montreal, but it may not be soon if his injury problems continue.
The former NHL defenseman is confident Dach can make an impact this year. If not, Cole Caufield is their fourth choice among the Canadiens’ untouchables.
Gauthier, however, prefers to put Dach ahead of Caufield because Caufield is a scorer, but he doesn’t necessarily lead to the Habs like Dach does.
Dach may not be as good a scorer as Caufield, but he is much more versatile. He’s the type of player who can make an impact, whether it’s on the power play or on the penalty kill, five-on-five. Now let’s cross our fingers that Kirby Dach will be able to finish a season without major injuries for the first time in a Habs uniform.