Blockbuster trade between the Oilers and Canadiens heats up after viral post
Photo credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images
Kirby Dach re-signed in Montreal five days ago. The trade rumors linking him to Edmonton are missing what that contract actually signals.
The pitch is everywhere in Oilers circles this week. A fan account floated Dach as a right-handed fit on Leon Draisaitl's wing, and the idea spread from there.
Dach checks the surface boxes.
He shoots right, he can win offensive-zone draws, and at 6-foot-4 he brings size Edmonton lacks in its middle six.
On July 16, Dach signed a one-year, $3.6 million deal after filing for arbitration and turning down a two-way qualifying structure.
That term is the whole story.
Montreal did not hand a 25-year-old they believe in long-term security.
Why the one-year term matters more than the fit
Teams give players they are building around multi-year deals.
They give one-year bridges to players they need to see prove it first.
Dach fits the second description after a season wrecked by a fractured foot, 15 points in 37 games, and a fourth-line playoff role. That is not a contract that blocks a trade.
It is the single most movable structure in hockey: cheap, short, and free of any commitment an acquiring team has to absorb.
The date to circle is March, not July
Kent Hughes just gave himself a clean deadline decision. If Dach clicks in Montreal's top nine, they keep a bargain.
If he does not, they move a $3.6 million rental for a pick or prospect, exactly as they did with earlier reclamation projects.
Stan Bowman and Mike Babcock can make the Draisaitl pitch then, with real leverage and a price that fits. Right now they are seven months early, chasing a player Montreal has no reason to discuss in July.
The fit was never the question. The timing is.
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