World Juniors 2021: Canada’s Kirby Dach injured in exhibition game

Canada’s Wednesday night tune-up against Russia was supposed to be a way for the boys to get their legs under them in preparation for the tournament. Instead, the team may now have to compete for gold at the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship without top player Kirby Dach.

In the third period of the 1-0 win, Dach went to knock Russia’s Ilya Safonov off the puck and appeared to injury his right hand in the process. After the collision, the Canadian captain took his glove off and looked at his hand, possibly for an injury to his thumb. He skated right to the bench and went straight down the tunnel. He did not return to the game and TSN’s Gord Miller reported after the final buzzer that he went for X-rays.

Head coach André Tourigny did not have an update after the game aside from the 19-year-old seeing the doctor and getting X-rays. 

“I like his drive. He really tried to make plays and bring everybody in the fight and play the right way, not try to force the game” said Tourigny when asked to assess Dach’s game before the injury. “Ultimate team player out there.”

Dach is expected to be one of the main cogs in the Canadian offense. Before leaving the game, he was playing the wing on the team’s top line with centerman Dylan Cozens and  fellow winger Jack Quinn. A veteran of 64 regular-season games last season where he netted 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists), and nine summer bubble games (goal, five assists) with the Blackhawks, the loss of Dach leaves a hole in Tourigny’s line-up.

“He’s definitely a really special player, important guy in the locker room for sure,” said Jamie Drysdale, who scored the lone goal, postgame. “He’s a really talkative guy, he’s a guy you can lean on. … Obviously it sucks to kinda see a guy like that go down and you just hope for a speedy recovery in whatever it is. I’m not sure what that may be but hope that all is good with him. I hope he can get back on the ice.”

If Dach cannot go, compared to previous years, there is little leeway to add a player to the roster. Normally, final rosters are due the day before the tournament begins and tweaks are made up to the last minute. This year, due to COVID-19 and the bubble, it would be difficult to add a player at this point. The one positive is rosters were expanded and Predators prospect Philip Tommasino did not skate and could be slotted into the lineup to fill the spot as the 13th forward.