Would Kirby Dach have continued his progress if he hadn’t missed 80 games this season? What would the Canadian have been like with the great number 77 in his ranks? How long would it take us to travel between Sainte-Adèle and Montreal if there were no speed limits on the roads?
Life is full of hypothetical questions. And those surrounding Dach, even Martin St-Louis admits that he asks himself from time to time. “It’s normal,” conceded the Canadian head coach, after a rare Sunday training.
Dach himself pleads guilty. These comments from fans who wonder where the team would be, this support, “it made things easier at times, but yes, it makes me wonder where we would be if I had played,” agreed Dach , Sunday, during his first meeting with the media since his injury on October 14.
Fortunately for the Habs, life without Dach is not just a long agony dreaming of better days in a world without injuries. Both the player and the team are trying, as best they can, to make up for lost time. Or at least, to limit waste.
This is how Dach regularly participates in video sessions devoted to the next opponent (the “prescout”, in the jargon), revealed St-Louis. These meetings normally take place between coaches only.
“It’s an opportunity to talk to him about the previous match, especially if it was abroad and he wasn’t there,” noted St-Louis.
“By keeping him around the team, integrating him into video sessions, not just with the players, I think it helps him improve this year without having his touches on the ice. This is an opportunity to improve your brain for the game. »
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Kirby Dach
Dach clearly finds something to his advantage, especially since it is clear that he does not feel like a green plant in these meetings, which do not take place without his point of view. “Martin and his deputies understand that discussions are a two-way street, instead of just telling us what to do. It’s good to exchange ideas, talk about what I see and listen to their analysis. »
“Morale is also important,” added St-Louis. We want them to feel like they’re part of the team. Also, we want to develop their hockey brain. They are young, they are still sponges. »
Concrete
All that is well and good, but it will not be until the fall that we will know if Dach lost ground during his 2023-2024 season which lasted four periods.
As a reminder: after a good preparatory schedule (three points in four games, +3) and a two-point curtain-raiser in Toronto, the great Albertan suffered tears in the anterior cruciate ligament and the medial ligament of his right knee, in the first period of the second game.
A check from Jarred Tinordi, who sent him over the boards, to the Blackhawks bench, knocked him out.
It’s rubbish. I had a good summer, I felt good, I had confidence in my game. I was unlucky. I can do nothing.
Kirby Dach
“It’s never a good feeling to lose a season like that. But the sun rose the next day. I had to start seeing what was best for me, for the operation, where to go, the rehabilitation. »
Its objectives remain modest. He recently started skating again, but in a sports tracksuit, not yet in full gear. Every step will now be eagerly awaited – those who followed the team in 2012 remember Andrei Markov’s long recovery from his two successive operations.
“I’m looking forward to skating a little more, finding my legs, maybe joining the guys in training to feel better this summer,” he explains. Although he talks about wanting to “beat the odds” and return to the game “as quickly as possible”, we understand that a return at the end of the season seems improbable. Even participation in the World Championship, which begins on May 10, a month after the end of the CH calendar, does not seem to be in the cards.
“As much as I would like that, I don’t think it would be the smartest decision,” he warns.
Better I take my time to make sure I get back to 100%.
Kirby Dach
Other examples
There are many players who suffer from ligament tears in the NHL. It would be futile to make an exhaustive list, especially since each case is unique. Markov, since we were talking about it, certainly felt the after-effects in his skating, but he was 33 years old when he returned and had two operations. He nevertheless offered five quality seasons to CH afterwards.
Most recently, Andrei Svechnikov underwent anterior cruciate ligament surgery in mid-March. Seven months later, he returned to the Hurricanes and has 31 points in 33 games, a level similar to his two seasons before going under the knife.
Tom Wilson, a colossus like Dach, was operated on in May 2022 and returned to action in January 2023. He played on Saturday in Montreal because the world is small, his 85e match since his return to play. He has scored 25 goals during this period, again a production comparable to what he offered previously.
So there seems to be life after a torn ACL. The trouble with Dach is that at the time he fell in battle, we still didn’t know the limits of his potential, which he seemed to be pushing away from week to week. The other problem is that his 80 games absent this year are in addition to the 24 games missed in 2022-2023.
No matter: Dach is convinced that he will make up for lost time.
“I don’t think my physical progress will be affected. I feel good in my body, how I move. I was walking without an orthosis two or three weeks after the operation. I’m skating three and a half months later. I feel good, I feel strong. It’s more of a mental challenge to be away for so long. »