MONTREAL — When the Canadiens flipped multiple long-term assets at back-to-back drafts for Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook, they were looking in part for short-term payoffs to play a big hand in determining how those deals would come to be evaluated.
A big goal in those deals for the Canadiens was to accelerate the early portion of their rebuild by moving multiple pieces from areas of surplus to add two young players who’d already gained enough mileage in the NHL and could pop quickly.
That’s why when general manager Kent Hughes first traded left-handed, bruising defenceman Alexander Romanov to the New York Islanders in 2022 for the 13th overall pick, and then flipped that pick, along with the 66th pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for Dach — a former third-overall pick in 2019 — the Bell Centre erupted. He had just stepped to the podium of his home rink to take six-foot-three, 238-pounder Juraj Slafkovsky moments earlier, and now he was landing a 21-year-old, six-foot-four, 215-pound centre to play with him and grow alongside him.
Dach hadn’t come all that close to meeting his massive potential in three seasons with the Blackhawks, but the upside he showed — despite missing a chunk of his first one and most of his second due to injury — was obvious enough to the Canadiens for them to part with Romanov (with Kaiden Guhle, Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble already in the system), one of three first-rounders, and one of three third-rounders they held that year.
“He can complement skilled players and add size down the middle,” a Western Conference-based scout told Sportsnet that day.
“He’s a top-nine (forward) that can turn into a top-six (forward) with time.”
That same thinking applied to Newhook.
He had won the Stanley Cup as the Colorado Avalanche’s third-line centre just days before the Canadiens drafted Slafkovsky and traded for Dach, and the thought that the former 16th overall pick from Dach’s draft class could come to Montreal one year later, at 22 years old, and soon pop — thanks to more opportunity and personalized development — was easy to buy. Especially when the price was the second of two first-round picks (31st overall after the Canadiens chose David Reinbacher fifth), a second-round pick and B-prospect Gianni Fairbrother.
Newhook was signed to a cost-controlled four-year, $11.6-million contract. Similarly, Dach was given a four-year, $13.45-million contract less than two months after landing in Montreal.
The Canadiens paid a bit for potential in both cases, but the deals were perceived as strong value bets that would likely pay off before both players would be due raises as restricted free agents.
The trades didn’t pay the type of short-term dividends hoped for — largely because both players suffered devastating injuries, but also because neither played to their potential over sustained periods.
Dach gained major steam over the back half of his first season in Montreal. He finished 2021-22 with 14 goals and 38 points in 58 games, producing much of it alongside Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, and he built up the confidence that he could return to the Canadiens the following fall poised to take charge of his own line.
But in Game 2 of the 2023-24 season, up against his former team, a freak collision with Jarred Tinordi saw him tear the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments of his right knee.
A little over a year later, he blew out the same ACL. And this past season, every time he gained positive momentum, it was abruptly halted by injury — a broken bone near his ankle cost him 10 weeks on the sidelines, and an upper-body blow kept him out from March 15 to April 7.
Newhook got off to the best start to a season of his career, producing six goals and 12 points in 17 games between Oct. 8 and Nov. 13. Then he suffered a displaced fracture of his ankle and missed 15 weeks.
Not ideal considering how his first three seasons in Montreal went.
The Newfoundlander had slow-burned his way to 14 goals and 30 points over his first 82 games with the Canadiens. And while the uptick was palpable when he put up 15 goals and 34 points in his first 54 games of the following season, the high-ankle sprain he suffered in Game 55 — coupled with his somewhat slow processing of the intricacies of coach Martin St. Louis’ uber-detailed system of play — led to a downturn in production last season.
With just 15 goals and 26 points over 82 games, the overwhelming public sentiment was the Canadiens would come up short on their bet that Newhook would become a top-six forward.
Well, you could argue the long-term payoff is hitting with both Newhook and Dach.
With two goals in Game 3 of Montreal’s Round 2 series against Buffalo, Newhook took over the team lead in goals. The first of his five in these playoffs was the winner in Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and he’s scored four since the puck dropped in Buffalo last Wednesday.
Dach started these playoffs on the same wobbly foot he’s skated on for most his time since arriving in Montreal. He was the source of two costly errors in the Canadiens’ Game 2 overtime loss to the Lightning.
But the 25-year-old bounced back with a goal and an assist in their Game 3 win and has scored three other huge, timely goals since.
The one that made it 5-2 Canadiens Sunday, as the Sabres were at their most threatening to make it 4-3, was perhaps Dach’s biggest.
Like Newhook, he’s been coming through at the most important time and starting to flip perception of his trade to Montreal.
“I’m happy for the player,” said St. Louis. “I know what Kirby’s capable of. And it’s easy to take a negative situation and blow it up into more than what it is. But I know the player, I know the person. I find what Kirby’s doing for us in these playoffs is he’s going to get us momentum.
“You look at the goal in the third, Buffalo was attacking a lot, and he goes and scores a huge goal. You look at his goal and his offensive actions, he’s absolutely seizing momentum for us. For the role he’s playing, that his line is playing, it’s really important. They’re lines that go get momentum for your team. I think that’s what he brings, and it’s super fun.”
Newhook is bringing top-flight speed and finishing skill to Montreal’s second line with direct centre Jake Evans and super-talented winger Ivan Demidov.
He, too, has changed the way people looked at most his tenure with the Canadiens.
“I don’t really know what the perception of it is,” the 25-year-old said. “I know that management here believed in me, and I know the coaching staff and everyone believed in me here. I believed in myself.
“I’m just trying to prove to myself and this team that I can help out and be a part of a winning team here, and that’s the only thing that’s on my mind.”
That mission continues for both Newhook and Dach, and they still have steps to take for their trades to Montreal to be considered successes.
They didn’t prove to be in the short term, but those deals were never made with just the short term in mind.