Canadiens in Desperate Need of Better Demidov Replacement Than Dach

If recent history is any indication, the Montreal Canadiens could certainly have used forward Ivan Demidov against the Carolina Hurricanes in their home opener on Tuesday. After Demidov scored two late points, including the game-tying goal, against the Pittsburgh Penguins to help engineer an improbable comeback from 5-1 down (in an eventual 6-5 overtime loss) on Saturday, the Habs fell a Demidov marker short against the Hurricanes.

Demidov out up to a Month

Ultimately losing 6-4 to the Hurricanes, the Canadiens were outmatched by the Stanley Cup champions. In a similar outcome to what resulted in the playoffs, when the Habs faced the Canes and lost four games to one in Round 3, they were outshot… badly. This time it was by a 34-20 margin, which was kind of a step in the right direction, after having gotten outshot 44-18 in Game 4. In Game 5, it was only 30-24, but a 6-1 final score. So, in a vacuum, this was a marked improvement, but still a disappointment on so many levels, starting with news earlier in the day that Demidov is now out up to a month with a lower-body injury.

Maybe Demidov could have provided the extra oomph the Canadiens needed to at least replicate the underwhelming result of the game against the Penguins, when, trailing 5-1, they scored four in a row, punctuated by Demidov’s late tying goal (and the assist he contributed immediately beforehand on Chris Kreider’s 5-4 marker) with goalie Jakub Dobes off for an extra attacker. There was at least a sentiment after that game that the Habs had righted the ship after two consecutive poor outings. Now, after they failed to exact a measure of revenge against the Hurricanes, there’s really just a sense of emptiness, similar to the gaping hole on the second line that they decided for some reason to fill with Kirby Dach in the interim.

While Dach impressed somewhat in the first game of the season against the Toronto Maple Leafs, in which he collected an assist while playing a bottom-six role, you would have thought the experiment of him playing top-six minutes on this team were over, with his point production having dropped to 30-point territory over the course of his four seasons with the team heading into 2026-27.

Dach Fails to Land on Scoresheet

Maybe head coach Martin St. Louis was simply playing a hunch after admittedly having been dealt a bad hand ahead of time. However, with the second line having struggled heading into the game, both of its other members thankfully broke their goose eggs on the season, just in drastically different situations in which Dach didn’t even figure into the play. Alex Newhook notched a power-play assist on one of Zachary Bolduc’s two markers, while Slafkovsky scored on a rebound with the net empty to pull the Canadiens within one, sparking hope among the Bell Centre faithful another comeback was in the cards.

It obviously was not.

Ultimately, Dach was the only member of that second line to start the game that didn’t figure into the scoring. And maybe that’s another silver lining to materialize out of the ashes of this disaster. On top of Slafkovsky and Newhook getting on the board finally, the Canadiens learned, reasonably beyond a shadow of a doubt, Dach lacks consistency to be the answer in an offensive capacity on this team. Not that anyone who’s readily available can truly replace what Demidov brings to the table on right wing, but Dach should at this point be relegated to a bottom-six role where he’s only simply expected to chip in the odd point.

One just would have thought the Canadiens had come to that conclusion on their own. After all, they reportedly took the opportunity presented by his unfortunate inability to stay healthy to qualify him with a two-way offer (resulting in him filing for arbitration and eventually coming to terms on a one-year deal that walks him to unrestricted free agency next summer). In inking him to that contract, they themselves seem to have effectively come to terms with the fact he won’t be staying and they don’t see a future with him. So, why present him with this opportunity on Line 2, when other, arguably better alternatives exist?

The reason why Kirby Dach took less than his qualifying offer is because this is a one-way deal. His qualifying offer was a two-way deal due to having played less than 60 games last season and 180 games over the last three seasons.

— Marco D’Amico (@mndamico) July 16, 2026

For example, Alexandre Texier has been floundering in a bottom-six role as a waste of top-six talent. He proved as much last season when he far from looked out of place on a line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, albeit over a small sample size of games, after having been signed as an unrestricted free agent. Granted, just about anyone can put up points in such a cushy assignment (Dach, in his debut season with the Canadiens, included). However, Texier also produced at a pace on par with Demidov during the playoffs, whereas Dach, despite being impressive at times, largely disappointed on the whole. Even before Texier contributed his first two points of the season (two assists) against the Canes, how his skill set better lends itself to an offensive role is something the Habs should have recognized.

Bolduc the Solution?

To be fair, you can understand why the Canadiens opted to go against promoting Bolduc, as he had failed previous auditions in a top-six role last season. Now that he is off to a similarly fast start as last season though, with a team-leading three goals in three games, he represents another alternative, maybe not to Demidov, but certainly to Dach in the top six.

Both of these are players who play the same position as Demidov. They are both players the Canadiens have consciously committed to over longer periods of time than they now have to Dach moving forward, with Bolduc under contract until 2030 after having received a (relatively) rich new contract this summer. They are alternatives the Habs must turn to in the weeks ahead, if they have any hope of at least treading water in the standings until Demidov returns. Dach just isn’t it.

Something needs to change ahead of the team’s next game at least. A few things actually, starting with who starts in Demidov’s place on Line 2. None of this can continue. The Canadiens shouldn’t need the benefit of a history lesson to know as much. Just their eyes. With three more games coming at home in the days ahead, you can be sure their ears will tell them as well if they don’t redeem themselves.