The Bell Centre was eerily quiet on Tuesday morning, its cavernous stands empty, the echo of blades on ice muffled by secrecy. In the heart of this silence, a solitary figure—Kirby Dach—glided slowly around the rink, accompanied only by a therapist and the weight of a thousand unanswered questions. There were no cheers, no teammates, no media huddled behind glass, just the faint sound of skates carving hope into the frozen surface.

For fifteen minutes, Dach’s return to the ice should have been a routine step in a long and painful rehabilitation. Instead, it became the center of a bizarre and unsettling drama. As journalists approached, eager to catch a glimpse of the Canadiens’ embattled forward, they found themselves abruptly barred from the stands—an ordinary rehab session transformed into a scene shrouded in mystery. The message was clear: not all comebacks are meant to be witnessed.

Why the secrecy? Why, on a day when even a few tentative laps could have lifted the spirits of fans and teammates, did the organization choose to close its doors and raise new questions? For a player whose career has been a rollercoaster of promise and heartbreak, every stride is scrutinized, every update dissected. Dach’s fractured foot, suffered just weeks ago against the Bruins, was supposed to sideline him for up to six weeks. Yet here he was, skating less than three weeks after the injury, his progress both encouraging and enigmatic.

The Canadiens’ decision to hide Dach’s session only added fuel to the fire of speculation. Was there something more to his recovery? Was the team protecting its investment—a 24-year-old, 6-foot-4 center, signed to a four-year, $13.45 million contract—or was it simply another chapter in the ongoing saga of injury and uncertainty that has defined Dach’s tenure in Montreal?

His medical history reads like a cautionary tale: a knee operation, a season lost, another cut short by the same knee, and now a fractured foot. Over the past three years, Dach has missed more than a hundred regular-season games, each absence a reminder of both his immense potential and his fragile reality. And yet, despite everything, he continues to fight, to skate, to chase the promise of a full return.

The strange directive to close the stands, while frustrating for those seeking answers, only deepened the sense of drama surrounding Dach’s journey. Every sighting, every whispered update, is now a piece of a larger puzzle—a story of resilience, secrecy, and hope that refuses to fade.

The good news, hidden beneath layers of caution and control, is that Dach is on the ice. His rehabilitation is progressing, and the Canadiens, battered but defiant, continue to find ways to compete despite their relentless run of injuries. For now, the mystery remains, but so does the possibility: that Kirby Dach’s next chapter will be written not in silence, but in triumph.

Photo credit: All Montreal Hockey / NHL

Tuesday morning, Kirby Dach finally started doing laps on the Bell Centre ice again, but the Canadiens chose to hide the scene from journalists.

According to journalist Simon Olivier Lorange, the forward had been skating with a therapist for about fifteen minutes when media members were suddenly blocked from accessing the stands. An individual session, normally routine in a rehab process, suddenly taking place behind closed doors sends a strange message to everyone.

“Kirby Dach has been skating with a therapist for about fifteen minutes at the Bell Centre.

For some obscure reason, the organization is forbidding media members from accessing the stands to watch the individual session, which is normally a routine part of a player’s rehab.

It’s… strange.”

– Simon-Olivier Lorange

Recall that Dach fractured his foot on November 15 against the Bruins and his absence had been estimated at four to six weeks.

At that point, he had recorded 7 points, including 5 goals, in 15 games since the start of the season, an encouraging start for a player who was already coming back from major injuries.

News that he was already skating roughly two and a half weeks after his fracture had circulated last week. What makes Tuesday’s episode even more sensitive is Dach’s long medical history. Operated knee and a full season lost in 2023-2024, then another season cut short last February due to the same knee.

Despite all that, he still managed 22 points in 57 games last season, after a 38-point campaign in 58 games during his first year with the Canadiens.

Kirby Dach at the center of a strange directive

At 24 years old, a 6-foot-4, 221-pound center, Dach is supposed to be an offensive pillar for the coming years. He earns an average salary of $3.3625 million per season under his four-year, $13.45-million contract, and his salary for 2025-2026 reaches $4 million.

When you invest that much in a player, protecting his health is understandable, but protecting every stride to this extent inevitably fuels distrust. Over the past three seasons, Dach has already missed more than one hundred regular-season games, and fans monitor every medical update like an ongoing saga.

Closing the stands for a simple skate, after all the fog surrounding his knees and now his foot, only adds another layer of mystery the organization really did not need. The good news, however, remains the most important: Kirby Dach is on the ice, and that means his rehab is progressing.

As for the Canadiens, as Stu Cowan noted, it is genuinely impressive what they have managed to achieve despite all the injuries.

The images that have surfaced and the eyewitness accounts confirm that he is getting closer to a return.