Canadiens notebook: St. Louis says Kirby Dach's faceoff skills will improve

"It's an art, it's something I know you get better at as you get older and we just have to find a way to get him to progress in that department."

Author of the article:

Pat Hickey  •  Montreal Gazette

Martin St. Louis said the Canadiens will work with centre Kirby Dach to help him improve on what was the worst faceoff record last season among NHL players who took at least 200 draws.

“It’s important, especially if that makes you not want to start him in the defensive zone,” the Canadiens coach said Saturday when asked about Dach’s liabilities as a faceoff man. “It’s a key element that dictates ice time. Guys who are really good on draws usually play some meaningful minutes because of that.”

The lack of success in the faceoff circle didn’t have a negative effect on Dach’s minutes in Chicago. He averaged better than 18 minutes a game in a top-six role with added time on the power play. He produced nine goals and 17 assists, not great for someone who was the third overall draft pick in 2019.

Dach has been hampered by injuries but the Canadiens are so confident they can turn his career around that they gave up a first-round draft pick to acquire him at this year’s draft and subsequently signed him to a four-year contract.

“We want to get Kirby in a position where he’s comfortable in the circle,” St. Louis said. “It’s an art, it’s something I know you get better at as you get older and we just have to find a way to get him to progress in that department. And it’s not just up to Kirby, It’s us as a staff and most likely some of our centremen.”

For the record, Dach won 33.8 per cent of his draws as a rookie, progressed to 34.8 in his second year and regressed to 32.8 last season.

The Heineman dilemma: Emil Heineman can score goals, but there are some other parts of his game that need refinement before he is ready for the NHL. The Canadiens could have the 20-year-old Swede play in Laval, where he could become more familiar with the North American game.

But it appears likely that if he doesn’t stick with the Canadiens — and his chances are akin to Montreal making the playoffs this season — he will return to play with Leksands in the Swedjsh Hockey League.

“It’s complicated but, to me, we’re evaluating all the time and our goal is not just to look at this year,” said St. Louis. “It’s to progress each and every year but also to try to build something that will bring us continued success. What we see from him, we see a guy who can be part of that. Is it this year, is it next year? I don’t know but what we’ve seen is good.

“North America vs Europe, I don’t know. We’d like the guy to be around more (but) I’m not sure how it works.”

The Saturday skinny: For those of you keeping score at home, Team A kicked off Saturday’s scrimmages wth a 5-2 win over Team C. Danick Martel, Cole Caufield, Joshua Roy and defencemen Mike Matheson and Justin Barron scored for the winners. Jordan Harris and Brendan Gallagher scored for Team C.

In the second game, Team B defeated Team D 4-1. Mitchell Stephens, Heineman, Joel Teasdale and Dach scored for the winners while Corey Schueneman scored for Team D.

The action moves to the Bell Centre for the annual Red and White intra-squad game Sunday at 3 p.m. and the Canadiens play their first preseason game Monday against the New Jersey Devils (7 p.m., RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM).

phickey@postmedia.com

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