Adam Proteau discusses how Kirby Dach's injury affects the Montreal Canadiens, the New Jersey Devils goaltending after two 4-3 losses and Brock Boeser's start for the Canucks. This is Screen Shots, a regular THN.com feature in which we analyse a few different hockey topics, and break them down over a few brief paragraphs. Let’s get straight to it:
The Montreal Canadiens’ season suffered an early blow on Saturday against Chicago when centre Kirby Dach suffered a lower-body injury expected to keep him out for a good length of time. Dach is a key component for the Habs’ fortunes, so losing him basically right off the hop is going to put a crimp into any plans Montreal had to be consistently competitive. We’ve said for a while now that it's good for Canadiens fans to focus on the future because, at the moment, there's simply not enough high-end depth in Montreal to overcome an injury to an important part of its blueprint for success. By the time Dach returns, the Habs could be well out of playoff position, and while that’s got to be a downer for the organisation, Dach’s injury illuminates how far the Canadiens have to go before they can grit their teeth as a team and remain competitive throughout the season. Dach’s absence will be evident in the win/loss columns for the Habs, but he’s still just 22 years old, and he’ll be an important contributor once he’s healthy. But for the short term, his injury will make life much harder for his team mates. That’s just the reality of the NHL, which feels like it has more injuries than ever. Here’s hoping he makes a full recovery and hits the ground running once he returns. The Edmonton Oilers might just be the most disappointing team in the NHL after one week, but a close second are the New Jersey Devils. They dropped two of their first three games, with 4-3 losses to Arizona and Florida, the former ending in a shootout and the latter in regulation. The Devils’ goaltending, which many identified as the weakest part of their game in pre-season rankings, is still up in the air in terms of a clear-cut starter, as veteran Vitek Vanecek has played in two games (going 1-1-0), and youngster Akira Schmid got the other start (going 0-0-1). Devils coach Lindy Ruff can continue alternating between his goalie tandem, but ideally, they need either Vanecek or Schmid to step up and claim the starter's job. Like most coaches, Ruff will go with the hot hand between the pipes, and New Jersey can’t be picky about the goalie who gets the most starts. For a long time, there was speculation the Devils would eventually trade some of their depth at forward and on defence for a legit No. 1 option, such as Winnipeg star netminder Connor Hellebuyck, but as we know, the Jets extended Hellebuyck’s contract and took him off the market. There could be other options, either via trade or the waiver wire, for the Devils to change their goaltending look later this season. And while you can’t pin either of their losses on Vanecek or Schmid, New Jersey can’t keep on surrendering four goals per game and expect the offence to bail them out night in and night out. If they’re going to be atop the very tough Metropolitan Division, the Devils need more out of their goalies than they’ve got so far. In Vancouver, the Canucks got out to a 2-0-0 start thanks in large part to the performance of veteran winger Brock Boeser, who has a team-best four goals and five points so far. But don’t take that output to be something that protects the 26-year-old winger from trade rumours for the rest of this season. Indeed, if Boeser continues to generate tons of offence, he could be pricing himself out of Vancouver’s long-term plans. Boeser is signed through the 2024-25 campaign at a salary cap hit of $6.65 million, per PuckPedia. That gives him cost-certainty for Vancouver’s potential trade partners, and Canucks brass could land a number of younger players and draft picks to keep the team competitive over the long haul. Some fans and media are focusing on Canucks winger Conor Garland being dealt, and while it’s certainly possible Vancouver GM Patrik Allvin could move Garland first, there’s going to be continuing speculation about Boeser’s future as a Canuck. Just as they did last season with former captain Bo Horvat, Vancouver’s management could decide to cut ties with Boeser as they look to a year or two from now to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. That’s certainly not a comment on Boeser’s on-ice value, but rather, a reality of their competitive situation in the macro sense.
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