NEWSLETTER
Ed. Note – Our Blackhawks coverage is coming! We won’t fully launch until January with a fantastic lead writer in tow, but this was major news that I wanted to get out in the interim.
Well, that’s the second time we’ve had to have that disclaimer atop an early Bleacher Nation Blackhawks post. And unfortunately, just like last time, it’s because this sufficiently big and sufficiently bad news was too big and too bad not to cover.
Just five days after learning that 22-year-old forward Alex Nylander would miss 4-6 months following knee surgery, the Blackhawks are also losing their 19-year-old, No. 2 center:
BREAKING: Blackhawks announce Kirby Dach will miss 4 to 5 months after undergoing wrist surgery.
That'll be most or all of the regular season.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) December 28, 2020
Sigh.
Dach, of course, was the third overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and was expected to be one of the key pieces for the Blackhawks moving forward (if not at least one of the lone, obvious, long-term bright spots for a franchise in transition on both the ice and in the front office). But Dach hurt his wrist playing in for Team Canada at the World Junior Championship.
Here’s the play in case you missed it:
Video of Kirby Dach’s injury in Team Canada’s exhibition game vs. Russia. He went straight to locker room. Not great. #Blackhawks
(🎥: @JDylanBurke) pic.twitter.com/gIdlPY4CJu
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 24, 2020
And here’s the Blackhawks official update:
Official word on Kirby Dach, who had wrist surgery today and is expected to return to hockey-related activities in four to five months. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/pYHtx7umvC
— Jay Cohen (@jcohenap) December 28, 2020
This is another extreme bummer for the Blackhawks, whose rebuild is looking more rebuild-y every day. We’ll have much more when Bleacher Nation Blackhawks launches after the new year.
