The second-line center role is the talk of the town in Montreal this offseason. While the Montreal Canadiens’ GM did a fantastic job of bolstering the right side of defense, fans have already moved on to the other issue on his to-do list, and everyone has an opinion about who he should target; for some, Kirby Dach is not the solution.

However, while Kent Hughes has stated that he will continue to work the phones to explore options, he has also indicated that he would be comfortable starting the season with the players he already has under contract. If that were to be the case, Dach would likely be getting another audition as the team’s second-line center.

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There are already some rumblings about giving Zack Bolduc a try there, since he has played the position in junior college, but I don’t believe that will happen, at least not right away. His mere presence and the fact that he can play there might light a fire under Dach, who will also be entering the last year of his contract.

During his end-of-season media availability, Hughes had been frank about the fact that Dach showed up to camp in subpar form and that his skating hadn’t been where it needed to be. As a result, he played catch-up all season, or at least until he was once again injured. It seems like the 24-year-old got the message loud and clear.

During Jeff Gorton’s last media availability, the executive vice president of hockey operations reported that Dach had been in town around 10 days ago to meet with team doctors and that he looked great on the ice and was ahead of schedule.

He didn’t say the youngster would be back in town soon, though. And yet, yesterday, after the prospects attending development camp had cleared the ice, The Gazette journalist Stu Cowan posted a short film of Dach working on the ice in Brossard, alongside Gorton’s son Jack.

It appears that Dach wants to leave nothing to chance this time around and will be ready for the next training camp, which is excellent news for the Canadiens, who are running out of time to evaluate him. So far, he’s not done enough to prove he should be part of the team’s core...

Photo credit: Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images

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