It's FINALLY happened...

It's finally happening, as Kirby Dock's long-awaited return to the ice has happened today, Thursday, September 25th, as the official Power Play units for the season have seemingly been unveiled, but he's also getting his full-time shot back with Patrick Laine and Ivan Dmitrov, and he also had a quote on the whole summer situation about how the Montreal Canadiens were talking about getting a 2C, and he weighs in on the whole subject matter. We gotta get into everything Kirby Dock, but it's not just him today. We got some other very interesting things to talk about, including Noah Dobson, and much more. All that coming up on this episode of Habs Die Edition. You know what? We'll start with Noah Dobson. So, we're gonna go here. Stu Cowan had a great article. It's linked down below. Go check out the article. There's so much more than we can show you here, because we want you to go read Stu's article, of course, but Noah Dobson aims to repay the Canadiens for taking a leap of faith. So much great stuff in here, but let's just put one of the Noah Dobson quotes he has right at the end. I think anytime you go to a new city, a new team, there's lots of things that are different, but honestly, it's been great so far. I wake up every morning with just excitement to get back to the rink with the guys. It's a fun group to be around. It's a young team, but a hungry team. A guy like myself just coming into it. That's super exciting, and I don't know if this is a hot take or not, Jesse, but I think he absolutely is gonna repay the Habs as much as he can. He knows there's expectations with a $9.5 million contract, and not just that. The media market, putting it lightly, saying it's slightly different in Montreal than for the New York Islanders, but this guy, my hot take, he could very well lead Habs defensemen in minutes per game, timeout nights per game this year. It could very well be Hudson. I think Dobson has a chance of doing it, Jesse, but regardless, I think he is as motivated as anyone else to not only prove the Habs right, but maybe even to prove the Islanders wrong to some extent. For sure, and that's why I think you might be right on that, Josh, and him leading us in ice time this year coming forward, because you have to feel like he is highly valued by the Montreal Canadiens. That was shown in how they traded not one but two first-round picks, trading Emil Heinemann, but also making him the highest-paid player for the Montreal Canadiens, besides Perry Price, ever. It really speaks to how much they're valuing him, and the reason that they did that, Josh, is because young, skillful, right-handed defensemen like Noah Dobson is really what championship teams are made of, and I think they're also a big reason why they're valuing him so much, Josh, is like, they just look at this guy as a winner. They see, okay, in junior, this guy was able to win it all, like, just all throughout his career, just a winner, and as they're looking to get in the playoffs and kind of, you know, build a winner here, obviously, I think they're taking that into account, but, you know, obviously, it's a perfect situation where they believe in Dobson, but also he's saying right now that, like, that belief that they just have in him is everything, and he really wanted to just come to a team that was hungry and really looking to take that next step, again, is so important. Just love how, you know, players are feeling like they can come to Montreal, and if they're hungry, that it's a place where they can get satiated, where they can really get those wins that they need here going forward, so just some tremendous signs that not only are we valuing Dobson, but he values this organization, and I feel like we're going to see just some amazing things happen together as a result. Absolutely, some satiation for that hunger of winning is a great way, like, I mean, I feel I've been hungry since 2021. I mean, that's the highest I've ever felt in terms of how far the Habs have made, well, maybe the highest since 2014, but that was dashed very quickly. I don't want to reminisce about that, but absolutely, like, Noah Dobson, he knows he's, like, there's maybe not, I guess, some pressure, but, like, the eyes are on him to really be that kind of top-level right-hand defenseman for this team, and he knows what the doubters are saying. There's no doubt that there's a lot of, a lot of those Islanders fans, as soon as he got traded, he saw them come out of the woodwork saying, well, he wasn't that great anyway, and I really hope he proves them wrong. We're so excited for Noah Dobson. Leave your thoughts on him down below, but we got to move on to some other stuff today, Jesse, and, look, we're going to get into Kirby Dock in just a minute, but I wanted to get into the power play reps, and this is something, look, this is taken before the game versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, and I'm sure you see this in the game versus the Leafs, but it's Noah Dobson with Ivan Demidov with Kirby Dock with Patrick Kleine, and, you know, Gallagher kind of wasn't there, but this is a power play unit, and we knew the line of Kirby, Ivan, and Patrick Kleine, but this is a power play unit that, at first, we were thinking, maybe this is just a preseason thing, but, of course, seeing this being used in a game where the entire top six is playing, it's a little interesting. Montreal is really going all out with two extremely good units, and it seems like Patrick Kleine and Ivan Demidov are going to start on the PP2, and this here, honestly, them working together on their smoothness. I know this is very common to do in practice, right? Obviously, your power play units are working together, but these are four guys who are very mobile, very smart, know where to be, what to do, all have power play experience. All of these guys have PP1 experience at the NHL level, even Ivan Demidov, who did it in the playoffs and was an impactful power play player in the playoffs. Kirby was playing with the Montreal Canadiens before Slav kind of took that over. Dobson with the Islanders, Leine, we know. Jesse, what do you make of this? This actually seeming to be the PP2 unit, we're running into the season. I mean, I didn't really expect it, but I kind of love it. Montreal probably has the best PP2 in the league. Maybe that's crazy, I haven't really looked, but I think there's a real case. I think we could definitely see that. And again, just our power play, if we can get that really humming along this year, that in and of itself is going to really help us to become a playoff team, if we can have both units. And I think there's every reason to think that they're going to be very successful. Let me explain why. It's like, I think that what's going to work so well here is, we know that Leine is the big focus of the defense, that they really, because we just know what a PP merchant he is, obviously. So you know that the defense is going to be focusing on him quite a bit, you know, to kind of take him out of the equation here. But the thing is, if you do that, you got Dobson, who's a really good shot threat, where if they're too much on Leine, they're going to start feeding Dobson and they're going to let it rip. And at the same time, it's like, Dobson's going to be the quarterback on this power play. At the same time, like, don't underestimate how much like, Ivan Demidov is really going to be pulling strings here. Like, I really think it's going to be Dobson and Demidov that are really going to be just orchestrating this power play as a whole. And we know that like, Demidov is such an amazing playmaker, where we've seen he can make some pretty amazing cross-ice passes as we saw in preseason. Even if you're able to get goals going laterally and kind of passing, you know, that net, like, you just increase your chances of scoring tremendously. And I think like, having Demidov as one option here, and Demidov to just really make sure that we're working both sides of the point is just going to translate into some real numbers this year for the Habs going forward. That being said, I'm glad that we got Hudson on that PP1, but I'm just loving like, the dynamics of how this is all shaping. Like, if you take one guy out, well, we got some other options that we're going to make you pay one way or another. Yeah, it's crazy. Like, I don't know how teams are going to be able to deal with these two waves. Like, if the PP1 doesn't get a goal, it's like, well, guess who's coming out? There's no break. Like, are you really going to send your PK2 out there against Patrick Laine? Like, that's kind of the crazy thing. And we saw Kirby have some great power play numbers in his career as well. And, you know, I think that transitions well into Kirby himself. And I mean, he's a big topic of this video as well. I mean, finally coming back after getting injured in the winter of this past season. I mean, a couple of brutal injuries. But the dude has been nothing but locked in. And I think he is really like, on this second power play, yes, Ivan Demidov and Patrick Laine are kind of the guys that are going to create most of the chances. I'm not expecting Dobson or Dock to play up to the level of those guys. But like, when you're talking about X factors, like Kirby very well could be one. A guy who has PP1 experience. But, you know, he's been hearing all the people talk about, oh, the Habs need a 2C. We need this, we need that. And meanwhile, Montreal has been saying, well, you know, the whole time, like, Kirby's kind of our guy. We're going to give him that shot. And Kirby had this to say when asked about it. No, wrong one. This one. Well, I didn't really give it, as in the 2C trade talk, about, you know, Montreal needing to go get one, any attention, to be honest with you. I was more focused on myself getting better, rehabbing, and getting back to a place where I can be effective and be that second line center for this team. And you know what? He absolutely is. And again, these lines are subject to change. This is the bottom six we have projected before training camp. Again, it's probably going to be Evans with Anderson and Gallagher. We'll see how Newhook and Bullduke end up working out. Newhook's looking like he's going to end up playing center. But regardless, the top six is the same. It's the top six against the Toronto Maple Leafs on this Thursday night, right? And probably, again, once the season starts. And Kirby Doc is right there as the center point of it. And Jesse, we've talked so much about it. But I am so excited, like, to just see that name, to see him out there skating, like, with these guys, with Ivan Dimitrov, with Patrick Klein. Seeing him on the second power play unit, it feels real. And it feels like there's less pressure than even the last time. I'm actually expecting a hot start to the season for Kirby Doc. I'm not saying if he doesn't do it, it's not a good thing or something. Like, oh, you know, I'm not going to say it's a disaster. But I am so generally excited to watch him play hockey again. His mindset seems to be there. He seems to be up to speed. I want to see what he's able to do right out the get-go. And again, it's because he's been focusing on himself in the offseason that he's putting himself in a position to succeed. Like, this is exactly what he needed to do. And if he wasn't looking so good out on the ice, if he didn't put in the work in the offseason, I'd be feeling different about it. But, like, clearly he has. Like, he looked, there's a transformation in Kirby Doc. Like, his face, he just looks like he's lost some weight. He's looking fitter. Mentally, he's looking, like, in a really good spot. I think, like, with Kirby, the skill is there for sure. But he's in a good place mentally, as well as staying healthy. Again, it has to make you think of Patrick Lyonnet. Like, it can work. And just how we're able to rehab Lyonnet in a lot of ways, and we'll see just the best version of himself, I think, this year. I think you can draw a lot of parallels to Doc in the same way. Like, we'll see the best Patrick Lyonnet we've ever seen. And I think we're going to see the best Kirby Doc we've seen in the NHL. Period. Now, that being said, it's like they're smart in really giving them every opportunity to succeed because if it doesn't happen, they can say, well, like, we really tried. It's not like we weren't surrounding him around good people. It's not like we didn't have him on the power play. Like, they're going to give him every single chance. And, like, there's a way, like, Josh, I know that, you know, we're a little bit kind of skeptical to see if he can do it. But, like, I'm here to say, like, I really believe that Kirby Dan, Kirby Doc Dan, I've had my doubts. But I've seen what he's been doing and how he's been looking on the ice. For me, that matters. If he wasn't putting in that work, again, I'd be a lot more skeptical here. But if he can really take that 2C mantle, Josh, like, just imagine, like, he's putting up the production we're looking for, 50 to 60 points. Like, and then how that would free up Kent Hughes to spend money other ways to be able to help this team. Now we're just talking about, like, basically literally, like, winning the lottery if you're Kent Hughes with the cap going up and feeling like, okay, you don't need to spend at that position. Now, I don't want to say, like, get ahead of myself too much and say that he won't and start looking at other options. But, obviously, it would create a very, you know, enviable position, you know, for the Montreal Canadiens, how they could really help this team. We're already looking like we have such depth, but that money at 2C, if Kirby Dog can hold it down, we could help this team, like, a whole, whole lot here going forward because he brings that size. He brings, you know, there's a defensive, physical side of the game that he can bring too, which I think is so important to our dynamics in the top six. So, does he have all the tools? Yes. Analysis about bringing that mindset. I think also, like, that willingness, you know, that, you know, kind of dog mentality, which, you know, Martin Saint-Louis talks about sometimes. Like, if I just throw a ball and it just kind of bounces into the room, like, who's going to get it? And now, it's going to be up to Kirby Dog. Is he going to be the guy to go out and get it? Because he's going to have lots of competition, but he's got that willingness. If he goes out and do that, I think the sky's the limit, not only for him, but for this team as a result. Yeah, and we know he can get to those numbers. He can get there. We've seen that dog Kirby Dog before. We've seen a Kirby Dog who was on pace for 50-plus points a couple of years ago. Like, again, 50 to 60 points, I would like to see his face-off percentage jump up, but, you know, I don't expect everything to go right. But again, like you said, 50, 60 points, that's not that crazy. He's 6'4", uses his body, and he's physical. That's great. And then, like, also, like you said, he's getting the opportunity. All right, well, so, you're coming back. You're going to play next to one of the best natural goal scorers in the league, in Patrick Lainé, and probably the most skilled young winger, one of the most skilled young forwards in the entire world, in Ivan Dmitrov. And you're also going to play power play with maybe the best power play goal scorer in the league, in Patrick Lainé. So, good luck, right? See what you can do. And no matter what, we're getting an answer, one way or another, positive or negative. Honestly, at this point, it's like, let's just see what happens and enjoy the ride. And no matter what, we know, Kent Hughes, Marty St. Louis, they're going to do what's best for the team. And I'm excited to see how this comes to fruition. But leave your thoughts on all this down below. Kirby's back. That'll do it for this episode. But, hey, keep an eye out. We got stuff coming out about all kinds of different games, games, post-games are coming soon. The season's right around the corner. Just a few pre-season games left. Thank you for tuning in every single day. I'm Josh Goss. My co-host, Jesse Poirier. We'll catch you in the next one.