Coming back for a knee operation is no easy task; coming back from a second one is even worse. Still, Montreal Canadiens’ center Kirby Dach saw his second rehab as an opportunity to do things the right way. On the first day of on-ice sessions in Brossard on Thursday, he faced the media, implying that he had learned his lesson and worked harder this offseason to be fully ready. Teammate Kaiden Guhle spoke about how he worked out with Dach all summer and how he never took days off or made excuses to skip a day. As the center himself said, he stacked the days.

On Friday morning, the former Chicago Blackhawks third overall pick at the 2019 draft was the first forward on the ice, before the kids, before the guys who were in the AHL and who hope to win a spot this season, Dach was on the ice working on his passing skills with a coach.

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When the whistle blew, he took part in all the drills with the pedal to the metal, hustling and battling for every puck. Dach didn’t just say the right things on Thursday; for the last two days, he also did the right things. He’s yet to take part in a scrimmage, but on Friday, his two linemates, Ivan Demidov and Patrik Laine, showed that there was already some chemistry between the two. The way the Russian can dangle with the puck as if it were tied to his stick on an elastic is impressive, and his skating has also improved this offseason. Jeff Gorton said at the end of last season that a winger could drive a line just as well as a center in some cases, and Demidov really looks up to the task.

In past years, Dach was asked to be the driver of the second line. It worked in his first season, and he looked primed for an even better season in year two before he sustained a season-ending injury in the second game of the 2023-24 campaign. Last season, he was slow out of the gate and out of shape, but he still managed to participate in 57 games before the injury struck again. In those 57 games, he put up 22 points and had a minus-29 rating, the worst on the team.

This season, it’s clear that the pressure isn't on him to drive the line or earn the right to center the second line; Martin St-Louis has already said it’s his spot. All Dach has to do is focus on doing things right, and so far, he has. Once he gets to play in a preseason game, he’ll do so with two highly talented players on his wings. There’s no denying that he’s been put in winning conditions as he enters the last year of his contract. Will he be able to convince the organization that he is their second-line center of the future? The answer is unclear, but what’s crystal clear is that the Habs’ brass really wants to be convinced. The ball is in Dach’s hands, and something tells me that he’ll shine with a little bit of help from his friends.

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