Dach has to show improvement soon.
Kirby Dach needs to turn his season around. While the Canadiens have lost four straight games, his game has disappeared in almost every way. It’s not all his fault; it’s still a team game, but he’s an important player, especially as they look towards the future.
In his last six games, he has two goals and one assist and he had a two-point game in a recent loss against the Detroit Red Wings. In his last six games, he’s averaging less than one shot on net per game. When is his offense going to kick in? It’s a fair question to ask since his consistency has been lousy.
Currently, Dach has 19 points in 51 games. He’s getting killed on face-offs. As a key pivot on the team, he has to do better than 39%. He’s attempting more shots than a few year’s ago and just 10 have gone in. Dach is ninth on the team in scoring. He only has nine assists. Joel Armia has 14. It’s ok to get goals as a center but you have to be a playmaker to some degree.
Dach has to play smarter. His cross-checking penalty at the end of the second period was ill timed. It was a bad way to close out a period where they gave up a two-goal lead.
At 24, he seems healthy now and he’s running out of years of upside. There is still time for him to take another step but honestly, that should be happening now.