Montreal Canadiens re-sign Kirby Dach to 1-year, $3.6 million contract

The Montreal Canadiens have re-signed forward Kirby Dach to a one-year contract worth $3.6 million, the team announced Thursday.

Dach, 25, was tendered a one-year, two-way qualifying offer worth $4 million at the NHL level ahead of the June 30 deadline, but the restricted free agent chose to file for salary arbitration with a hearing that had been scheduled for July 30.

Dach was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks on July 7, 2022, during the first round of the NHL Draft, one of the first moves of the Canadiens’ rebuild and a sign of how aggressive the front office led by Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes was going to be to get the team back to a competitive level quickly. The acquisition cost was significant — essentially defenseman Alexander Romanov and a third-round pick — but the Canadiens saw huge potential in Dach, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound right-shot center who could slot in behind Nick Suzuki in their top six.

Four years later, Dach has not fulfilled that promise, and the second-line center position remains a hole that needs to be filled. The short term of Dach’s new contract suggests it’s now or never for Dach to realize that untapped potential.

Dach scored eight goals and 15 points in 37 regular-season games for the Canadiens last season, his fourth in Montreal, all of which have been marred by injury. In those four years, Dach has scored 32 goals and 77 points in 154 games played, less than half the 328 games the Canadiens played over that span. That total was severely impacted by Dach’s 2023-24 season, when he came out of training camp looking like one of Montreal’s best forwards and then injured his knee in the second game of the year, ending his season. Dach injured the same knee the following season and had a second reconstructive surgery on that knee in 2025.

If healthy, Dach remains a candidate to fill a second-line role for the Canadiens in training camp, along with Alex Newhook and Oliver Kapanen, though Montreal continues to scour the trade market looking for a top-six addition.