Montreal Canadiens sign Kirby Dach to four-year contract

The Montreal Canadiens have signed forward Kirby Dach to a four-year contract with a $3.3625 million cap hit.

Dach was a restricted free agent after finishing up his entry-level contract that he played out with the Chicago Blackhawks. He was a third overall pick for Chicago in 2019, so that contract never had to slide as he’s played with the team since his draft year. The Canadiens acquired Dach at the 2022 NHL Draft in exchange for the New York Islanders’ first-round pick that the Habs got for trading Alexander Romanov, as well as their own third round pick.

Dach has struggled in the NHL, failing to live up to the third overall pedigree so far in his career. He has just 19 goals, 40 assists, and 59 points in 152 career games, with the 2021-22 season seeing his career high totals with nine goals, 17 assists, and 26 points in 70 games.

Those struggles continue on the defensive side of the ice as well. He has a 45.73% shot attempt share and 45.59% expected goal share at even strength so far in his career, although playing for an uncompetitive Blackhawks team certainly doesn’t help. Those numbers are also weighed down a bit by playing with Patrick Kane, who has his own struggles with driving play, but then that also is a concern for Dach’s scoring if he can’t put up points with a strong playmaker like Kane.

With this signing, the Habs find themselves more than $10.2 million over the salary cap with every contract considered, although with Carey Price out for the season and on long-term injured reserve, that puts them at just under the salary cap by about $300,000. The team made a few big deals this offseason aside from the Dach trade, including the aforementioned Romanov to the Islanders, trading Jeff Petry to the Penguins for Mike Matheson, and offloading Shea Weber’s contract to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Evgenii Dadonov.