Former Coach Makes Stunning Prediction About Kirby Dach's Future In Montreal

Friday, May 08, 2026
Montreal Canadiens forward Kirby Dach celebrates goal during 2026 game.

Michel Bergeron has seen a lot of hockey in his life, and he just made quite the prediction on Kirby Dach.

The former NHL head coach and longtime Quebec hockey personality said, "Kirby Dach is going to be with the Canadiens for the next 10 years."

The Canadiens qualified for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and knocked off the Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games, and Dach saw his first postseason action in six years as part of that first-round series.

Bergeron pointed specifically to Dach's size, noting that at six-foot-four he provides a physical dimension that thrives in playoff hockey, and drew a direct comparison to the Buffalo Sabres, who have used multiple big-bodied forwards to fuel their own playoff run this spring.

The Caveat

There is one problem with a ten-year prediction for Dach in Montreal.

He does not currently have a contract beyond this season.

Dach's four-year, $13.45 million extension, signed in September 2022, expires this summer, making him a restricted free agent with arbitration rights in July.

Kent Hughes and the Canadiens front office must decide whether to offer him a qualifying offer, negotiate a long-term extension, or allow the situation to reach arbitration.

The decision is not so easy given what this season looked like.

Dach appeared in only 37 games in 2025-26, managing eight goals and seven assists, after suffering a fractured foot against Boston in November that kept him out for 31 games, followed by an upper-body injury in March that cost him another 11 contests.

Unfortunately, that's become the norm for Dach during his time in Montreal. He tore his ACL in the 2023-24 season and missed significant time the following year as well.

The production when healthy has been solid.

In 2022-23, his first full season with the Canadiens, he set a career-high 14 goals and 38 points in 58 games.

The 2023-24 season, before the ACL, looked like a player taking the next step, forming a dynamic line alongside Juraj Slafkovsky and Alex Newhook that gave Montreal a legitimate top-six threat.

But the injury history is nagging, and Hughes will have to look at the upside of a 25-year-old third overall pick against what's become a pattern of a player who has yet to play 70 games in any NHL season.

What Bergeron Is Seeing

Bergeron coached the Quebec Nordiques for parts of nine seasons and has been one of the most recognizable hockey voices in the French-language media for decades.

He sees Dach as a player finally growing into the physical tools that made him a top-three pick in 2019. The point about size is worth noting in the context of where this Canadiens rebuild is heading.

Montreal's core is young, skilled, and in several cases relatively slight.

Lane Hutson, Ivan Demidov, Cole Caufield, and Slafkovsky collectively give the Habs speed and offensive creativity.

A six-foot-four center with passing vision and improving physicality who can protect pucks, win faceoffs, and eventually be trusted in high-leverage moments is a complementary profile that is pretty difficult to find elsewhere.

Photo Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

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