Solid deal for both sides. Dach is legit. He'll develop into a solid 2C.

Hughes wanted to sign Dach for more than a couple of years, so they paid more.

that's all short term deals. 4 years after ELC is not common. Maybe Coyle as someone said

and half of this bunch already signed more lucrative contracts after their short bridge. So if Dach develops it can really be a bargain deal

First two years do not matter too much as they're going through a rebuild, seems like a good contract for both sides.

This takes him straight to UFA, no?

2019-20: 64 games
2020-21: 18 games but 38 games on IR (see: https://www.capfriendly.com/teams/cap-tracker/blackhawks/2021)
2021-22: 70 games
2022-23: year 1 of new contract
2023-24: year 2 of new contract
2024-25: year 3 of new contract
2025-26: year 4 of new contract

Assuming he stays in Montreal, that will seven seasons of 40+ games

UFA summer 2026

I doesn’t seem like the 18 games played season counts towards the seven accrued seasons. I thought I would but I guess not

I don’t see much risk for the deal - it could obviously be bad but the upside is there with Kirby imo.

Sounds like an ominous prophecy or smthn lol

Overrated player. He has yet to demonstrate being worth more than $2m a year and should have signed a two year, maybe $5m deal but I guess when you trade for a player in the manner in which they did, the contract likely needs to validate the trade. Getting 4 years is nice but at that number, it’d look a lot more attractive with a 5th year.

No he will still be RFA. Sportsnet validated this information.

Something about the injury in 2020-2021 happening outside the NHL (WJC).

... and if he doesn't developp because money is raining on him at 21 it can be an overpay for 4 years. We'll see.

I'm all in for blaming Montreal development staff (Lefevre included) but do we blame Colorado's staff because Duncan Siemens, Conner Bleackley and Joey Hishon didn't pan out? Not all first rounders are meant to be NHLers, we wiffed on some picks where players simply couldn't take the next step in development/career. Tinordi was ****ed by the Hunter brothers more than Montreal, he was used as a goon only because of his size. He went from under a penalty minute per game in the USDP to about 2 in London (140 minutes in 63 games!), he lacked high end skills but that certainly didn't help.


Yeah seemed like there was an addenda on those IR games that, because the injury occurred in another league than the NHL, the games weren't counted toward the ELC rules.


Yeah but do you want to loaf because you just got 13 million or you want to hustle and bank 40 million on your next deal on top of it?

Good signing.

I think he's done enough to be their 3-line centre, which is all he needs to do to justify the cost. Plus, he's still an RFA at the end, so the term is good as well.

How is he an rfa at the end? I thought 7 years is Ufa?

Still don’t know why Chicago traded him

Sure it’s easier, but not every first rounder has top 6 or top 4 potentiel. Samuel Morin is an exemple of a prospect with not a whole lot of potential, but since he was 6.7 everyone wanted him so he went in the first round.

They're doing a complete rebuild..

Not really sure how trading a 21 YO former 3rd Overall pick makes sense, but I'm not gonna complain

These are my favorite types of gambles, because they will be a little divisive in terms of whether they make sense from an analytics type of view, but the strategy here is sound.

Dach's uneven NHL start probably makes this an overpay, but Montreal can handle an overpay, especially in years 1 and 2 while they aren't likely to be ultra competitive. What they get in return is to buy what could be a couple of years as a steal, and hopefully, buy some goodwill going into the next negotiation where they won't have a tonne of leverage, but he will be young enough, that pairing him even remotely fairly on long term deal at the end of this one, likely still is a very solid deal overall.

Montreal's risks all lie in years where they likely don't need the cap space that badly, and the rewards are getting him on the cheap for the first year or two they may start contending and setting themselves up for easier decisions on a 3rd contract.

Even if the downside of this contract is more likely than the upside, the reality is that the downside barely hurts the Habs if it occurs, while the upside can turn into quite the windfall.

He hasn't shown he's worth this yet but if he breaks out then it could end up being pretty good value

I would have done 2.3mill x 2 years or a prove me deal as maybe a change of scenery will help or maybe hes traded before the end of that deal

Who knows

I think it's a reasonable deal.

Then when Montreal is ready to compete, he'll be looking for a big pay raise. This makes sense for Montreal

Great signing. Term seems a bit long. I would think it’s better for 3 years IMO. Could be a great signing though if he continues his play.

it's amazing how many mid players that the habs have under contract