Kirby Dach Tears ACL & MCL, Will Miss Remainder Of 2023-24 NHL Season

Kirby Dach Tears ACL & MCL, Will Miss Remainder Of 2023-24 NHL Season

The 2023-24 NHL Season just begun and the Montreal Canadiens were already hit with some bad news. Kirby Dach is a young and ascending player who was ready to take on that second-line center role. His season will end before it ever really got going. Dach, the former third overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft by Chicago, has torn his ACL and MCL. He’s expected to miss the remainder of the season.

Eric Engels over at Sportsnet was the first to report the news:

Initial word I'm receiving on Canadiens' Kirby Dach is he has a torn ACL+torn MCL in his knee. There are more tests being done, and we'll wait for Habs to officially confirm once they're received all the info, but this puts Dach's season at risk if it ends up being the case.

— Eric Engels (@EricEngels) October 16, 2023

Montreal head coach Martin St. Louis was really happy with Dach’s progress prior to the injury.

“I feel that every game that I’ve seen him play in pre-season, and even now, you leave the rink and are like, ‘Wow, he was really good tonight,'” said Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis moments after the update on Dach’s status was delivered by vice-president of communications Chantal Machabee on Monday. “That’s a good feeling as a coach, and it just showed to me—and I know it’s a small sample of the season, counting exhibition games—the upside and maturity in terms of consistency. We were getting it every game.”

Montreal Canadiens 2023-24 NHL Preview

Dach, 22, was coming off his best NHL season, with 14 goals and 48 points in 58 games during his first season with Montreal. Dach had two assists in his first two games this year and was really starting to pop.

With Dach out, Alex Newhook is expected to shift over as the new second-line center. Newhook will get another chance to play center after he failed in that role with Colorado a season ago. Of course, Newhook was dumped by the Avalanche via trade this Summer.

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