Dach deletes social media accounts — along with outside expectations
Maybe Kirby Dach just needed to cut out the chatter and 280-character critiques.
“Deleted it. Deleted it at the end of December, beginning of January,” Dach said Saturday about his social media. “Twitter and Instagram. Yep.”
Brilliant idea as far as his coach is concerned.
“I didn’t know he did that,” Derek King said.
“I think this day and age, they read into it too much . ... It can get to you a little bit. And then you get those fans that are yapping at you when you’re coming off the ice or in the parking lot, but this social media stuff is taking it to another level, so I can see it bothering kids, especially young kids.
“Maybe it’s a smart move, more guys should do it, just kind of put their social media stuff on pause during the season.”
Dach explained his motivation: “Just felt like it was something I wanted to try and started having good games after. After that initial week of deleting it, you kind of stop going on your phone as much. Got the screen time down, which was good.”
It’s part of a mental reset the third-year Chicago Blackhawks forward has committed to.
Dach has wrestled with expectations, from hockey watchers and perhaps even himself, since the third pick in the 2019 NHL draft set foot on the ice. If the 6-foot-4, 197-pound center doesn’t blend bulk and a big shot like Ryan Getzlaf or win faceoffs and puck battles like Jonathan Toews, he’s branded a disappointment.
Dach, who has six goals and eight assists in 41 games this season, mentioned Getzlaf among several NHL veterans who defined themselves, while “I’m freshly 21 and trying to find my own groove still. It’s been an up-and-down three years.”
Dach appears to have let go of what he (or others) think his role should be.
“I’ve been put in a situation where I’m playing that third-line, checking, shutdown role,” said Dach, though he played on the second line against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday after Toews entered the concussion protocol. “If you look back at the games I’ve been playing like that, I’ve done a pretty good job in that role.
“If that’s going to be my role, I’m going to play it like that. I’d like to score and get points because that’s all everyone on social media thinks the game of hockey is about. It’s a hard game, shutting down those lines. You’re getting the best players each night, and that’s a challenge that I want.
“Obviously you want to score — the best way to play defense is to keep them in their own zone.”
King said he believes Dach has accepted the role.
“I think of a top centerman, that’s a checking, playing both ends of the ice,” King said. “He seems really focused on it and I like how he’s playing. “He’s an offensive kid and he probably wants to get more points and help the team that way, but he’s got to learn to play this way because a lot of times, even if you’re on the road, you’re going to go up against top lines, so why not be good at checking top lines?”
And really, how many healthy Hawks centers have the size and speed to fill that role? Toews is out indefinitely and Jujhar Khaira has been dealing with back problems.
King clarified that Dach isn’t there just to check and play defense.
“I don’t even look at it as a checking role,” King said. “Like, I still need him to produce and create stuff, it’s just, who do you put out there against a top line that comes into our building? Whether it’s the (Nathan) MacKinnon’s and these guys, there’s so many top lines. Whoever comes into our building, we need somebody that can check, and it’s not just him.”
King also mentioned two other young centers, Philipp Kurashev and MacKenzie Entwistle, helping in that area.
As for Dach, he said coaches and management have done well communicating what kind of player he’s shaping up to be, “trying to find what’s the perfect fit and how it’s all going to work out down the road because this isn’t a one- or two-year project.
“This is my career and I want to be able to develop into a player that can be here for a long time.”
So in his eyes, who is that player? “That’s a good question,” Dach said.
He expressed his admiration for Toews, a mentor and someone he grew up watching who now tries to help him refine his skills.
But Dach also namedropped “the (Aleksander) Barkovs, (Patrice) Bergerons, (Sean) Coutiers, (Mark) Scheifeles.”
And it’s not just about size, speed and elite skill.
“Those guys that are so great at every little detail of the game,” Dach said. “That’s where I want to get my game to — not necessarily putting up 100 points every year but just being a guy that produces offensively — because that’s how you win games, scoring more goals than the other team — but being able to shut down other lines and have that challenge each and every night.
“I thrive off that.”