Dach thriving for Canadiens heading into game against former team

Kirby Dach said he is feeling good about where is now.

"I just think it's a combination of everything," he said.
That refers to adjusting well to the Montreal Canadiens, to whom he was traded to by the Chicago Blackhawks on July 7, and then getting comfortable playing right wing, a change for the longtime center, with left wing Cole Caufield and center Nick Suzuki.
"Cole's a shooter, but he also makes a lot of great plays; Nick's pretty responsible defensively, understands the game and thinks it pretty well," Dach said. "At the same time, he's scoring goals right now. He makes really, really smart plays and the combination of all three of our skill sets and the way we see the ice and think the game, it just matches up pretty perfectly."
Dach, who has 17 points (four goals, 13 assists) in 20 games, will look to keep building on his season in a familiar place when the Canadiens play the Blackhawks at United Center in Chicago on Friday (2 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, RDS, TSN2, ESPN+, SN NOW).
"It's the place where I bought my first house, bought my first car, so it definitely holds a special place in my heart," he said. "It'll be cool to see some of the guys and the training staff. It'll be nice to get it over with, too but at the end of the day, it's definitely marked on my calendar and I'm looking forward to it."
The 21-year-old was selected No. 3 by the Blackhawks in the 2019 NHL Draft and appeared to be on track to be their next top center, especially when he had six points (one goal, five assists) in nine playoff games in 2019-20. He had 59 points (19 goals, 40 assists) in 152 regular-season games with Chicago, forming a young core with forward Alex DeBrincat and Brandon Hagel.
But Hagel was traded to the Tampa Bay Lighting prior to the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline, and when the Blackhawks went into a full rebuild mode last offseason, Dach was sent to Montreal the same day that DeBrincat was traded to the Ottawa Senators.
Chicago forward Patrick Kane said he has watched Dach find his niche in Montreal.
"I know he's had some success there with Suzuki and Caufield, so you know, he's got a lot of potential if you put him with the right players," Kane said. "He's a young guy, the more experience he gets the better he's going to be. Happy to see him doing well and playing a big role there.
"I always liked paying with him, too. He's a big strong centerman (6-foot-4, 212 pounds) who plays both ends of the rink, he can play with speed up the middle, he can play puck possession. He's going to be a good player for a long time in the League."
Dach is nine points shy of the NHL career-high 26 (nine goals, 17 assists) he had in 70 games with the Blackhawks last season. In Chicago, Dach was playing up and down the lineup, including the third line, where the focus was more on checking than scoring. In Montreal, he's getting the top-six opportunity that's helped his production.
Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis immediately liked what he saw in Dach.
"First, if you give up on a 21-year-old kid, whether it's in hockey or in anything, maybe you don't have a lot of patience," he said. "You also don't have the full picture, or what I call a 'growth mindset'. Twenty-one is so young.
"Kirby was a third overall pick three years ago. So what I saw was a third overall pick, with all his skills, his size, his reach."
Dach said one reason why he fit in immediately with the Canadiens is because they're young, too. Suzuki is 23, defenseman Jordan Harris is 22, Caufield and defenseman Arber Xhekaj are each 21, defenseman Kaiden Guhle is 20 and Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft is 18.
"It's a younger group so it's easier to kind of step in and get along and hang out with guys, just based on age groups, right?" he said. "I feel when I came into Chicago, it was just really me and (defenseman Adam) Boqvist and (forward Alex) Nylander were the three young guys there, and I come in here, I feel everybody's pretty much 25 and under. So, it's nice to kind of grow with the group and gel together and have fun."
Dach is feeling at home, off the ice and on the top line with the Canadiens (10-9-1), who were 22-49-11 last season and didn't get their ninth victory until their 43rd game.
Those who saw him up close his first few NHL seasons aren't surprised it's coming together for him.
"I think you give a kid like him with his talent level a chance to play in an offensive situation, give him a little leash to go out there and make mistakes and find out what works, find out what doesn't, find your mental game as far as just allowing yourself to play loose and be creative and let your talent take over," Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. "He was going to make plays eventually."
NHL.com independent correspondent Sean Farrell and LNH.com managing editor Sebastien Deschambault contributed to this report