Kirby Dach has been a transformed player since being paired with the Canadians’ two sparkers: Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield.

The striker is visibly more comfortable on the wing than in the centre, as his stats show, having picked up seven points in his last four games. That explains it, according to Michel Therrien, who sees similarities between Badger’s situation and that of Alex Galchenyuk when guiding him in Montreal.

“Dach is doing a great job with Caufield and Suzuki. An attacking player like him likes to play with other attacking players. I’m much more comfortable as a winger. Designing a center player doesn’t necessarily mean that he will be a center player once he reaches professional level. It was the same with Galchenyuk,” the former Canadiens head coach said in his weekly column on the show. JiCMonday, on TVA Sports (see video above).

“We drafted Galcheyuk as a center player, but he could never take off in the middle,” Therrien continued. When I put him in the middle he found himself in a position where he was depersonalized, he wasn’t playing the same hockey, he was on the heels. On the other hand, when I put it on the wing I felt it much looser. We saw big strides in his debut with the Canadiens. He even scored 30 goals. I feel the same way sample with dash I feel much more comfortable on the wing.

Therrien pointed out that it’s much easier to move from center to wing than the other way around.

“A winger has less responsibility. We don’t talk about Dach not winning his faceoffs anymore, all the little things play in the minds of the players, especially the offensive players. Not everyone can play the role of center. It’s much easier to take a center player and put him on the wing than it is to put a winger in the middle. The center always gets used to playing on the wing in the end. Also, like we saw with Sean Monahan, Caufield and Suzuki make anyone who plays with them look very good.

help requested

Also, Therrien would like to see another trio rise.

“Suzuki and Caufield put on quite a show. They dominate game after game. It’s good for the future of Canadians. But Martin St-Louis must try to find solutions to add more depth to the attack. The other three trios don’t bring much.

“It’s up to Martin to experiment. Hopefully he finds the right combination. Players must also find solutions themselves. You can’t win if just one line causes offense.”