NHL Draft | The Canadian sacrifices Alexander Romanov to acquire Kirby Dach

The path to reconstruction is not linear, let alone predictable. Canadian fans have been learning about it for several months now. A new lesson has just been added to the manual.

Simon Olivier Lorange
The Press

The Habs shook the Bell Center – and the entire NHL – by concluding two major transactions in quick succession on Thursday night. The club first traded defenseman Alexander Romanov and a fourth-round pick to the New York Islanders in exchange for a first-round pick, 13^e in total. The CH immediately passed on this choice, with a third-round selection (66^e in total), to the Chicago Blackhawks against forward Kirby Dach.

We will come back to Romanov later, because the key to these personnel movements is certainly Dach. This 21-year-old center player will inevitably be expected in town by a barrage of questions. Starting with this one: Did general manager Kent Hughes just acquire the player so dominant in the junior ranks that he was picked third overall in the 2019 draft? Or the one who, after 150 games in the NHL, has still not been able to establish himself as a regular offensive contributor?

Hughes obviously can’t guarantee anything. But his expectations lean logically towards the first version of Dach. The one that earned him to be named captain of the Canadian team for the 2021 World Juniors before an injury deprived him of the tournament and the majority of the following season. The one who also brings speed and weight – he still has to gain a little – to his center line.

However, there will be work to do. After a modest rookie season that ended with some nice flashes in the playoffs, Dach was slowed by his wrist injury in 2020-21. While he wanted to bounce back in 2021-2022, it didn’t go at all as he hoped.

Difficulties

Collectively, the Blackhawks have had a disastrous season. However, that hasn’t stopped some of their young forwards, like Alex DeBrincat, Brandon Hagel or Dylan Strome, from having good campaigns offensively. Dach, on the other hand, has rather regressed. At five against five, he struggled to create scoring chances, even though he often shared the ice with DeBrincat or Patrick Kane. His performance at the face-off circle was mediocre (32.8%). And its use on the shorthanded was not successful.

All these elements forced the Canadian to do his homework before concluding the transaction with the Hawks. General manager Kyle Davidson demanded a choice in the top 15 in return. Not only did you have to find it – it happened and it cost Romanov – but you also had to justify the high price.

“We took the time to understand where he was, explained Hughes at the end of the evening, Thursday. Understand what happened, why Chicago was willing to let it go. We wanted to know the player and the person. We even asked the opinion of Justin Barron, who rubbed shoulders with him at the Team Canada junior camp.

In the end, we agreed to bet on the growth potential of this young 6’4” center player… as well as on the benefits of a change of environment.

Goaltending coach with the Chicago Blackhawks since 2014, Quebecer Jimmy Waite has closely witnessed Dach’s development.

He doubts the Albertan will become an 80-point producer, but if he adds muscle to his frame – he weighs just under 200 pounds – Waite believes Dach “can still develop and he’ll be very physical “. He rather recognizes a potential of fifty points annually.

If he also improves his shot, “he can become a force in the NHL”.

Exit Romanov

To acquire a player of this category, however, there was a price to pay. In this case, it resulted, for the Canadian, in the loss of Alexander Romanov.

Cutting ties was “very difficult”, admitted Kent Hughes. His progress had been one of the few positive elements of the last season with the Canadian.

Hughes would have preferred to give up only draft picks, but it was becoming apparent that he would have to sacrifice a player. And the Russian was in demand.

Lou Lamoriello, of the New York Islanders, was smiling with all his teeth, too happy to have got his hands on a 22-year-old defender who can integrate his top 4 immediately.

The oldest NHL general manager praised his new player’s “incredibility,” as well as his high level of competitiveness — his biggest asset, he said. “We have played against him enough to recognize what he brings. And he still has a lot of potential to improve,” the manager said in a scrum.

His club was looking to replenish its bank of young defenders, and at the rank where the Islanders were to speak, he knew that his main targets would no longer be available. Giving up his first-round pick for Romanov, in this context, “was not a difficult decision”.

Conversely, at the Canadiens, we said we were “disappointed” with this sacrifice, although the pill is easier to swallow knowing that the left flank of the defense is one of the departments where the next generation is the most flourishing in Montreal, with Kaiden Guhle and Jordan Harris each starting their first professional season next October, and Jayden Struble who could make the leap from the university ranks within a year.

That said, it should come as no surprise to see the Canadian acquire reinforcements over the next few weeks. Because with the departures, since last March, of Romanov, Ben Chiarot and Brett Kulak, the void is abyssal in the immediate future. After Joel Edmundson, and excluding Xavier Ouellet, who does not seem to be in the team’s future plans, the most experienced left-handed defenseman in the entire organization is Corey Schueneman, with his 24 NHL games.

“We don’t want to put our young defenders in a position for which they are not ready”, and thus compromise their development, concluded Hughes.