The Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Blackhawks have significant injury news. On Sunday, the Canadiens announced that forward Kirby Dach of Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta will be out four to six weeks with a broken foot. Meanwhile, Blackhawks left winger Nick Foligno of Buffalo, New York will be out one month with a broken hand.
How did the injuries happen?
Dach suffered his injury on Saturday in a 3-2 Canadiens loss to the Boston Bruins while blocking a shot. Foligno, who is the Blackhawks captain, broke his upper body part while blocking a shot from Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe, in a 3-2 Blackhawks win over the Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Kirby Dach in 2025-26
Dach has five goals and two assists for seven points in 15 games. He was a -2 with 16 penalty minutes, one power-play point, 22 shots on goal, 46 faceoff wins, 15 blocked shots, 21 hits, eight takeaways, and eight giveaways.
Dach’s power-play point came in a 4-3 Canadiens overtime win over the Seattle Kraken on October 28. It was a power-play assist and set up Alexander Kerfoot of St. John’s, Newfoundland. The goal put the Canadiens up 3-0 at 5:55 of the third period. Ironically, Kerfoot is also injured at this time longterm for Montreal. He broke his ankle sliding hard into the boards in a 7-0 Canadiens loss to the Dallas Stars on November 13. The Canadiens were showing strong interest in recent unrestricted free agent David Kampf of Chomutov, Czech Republic, but he elected to sign a one-year deal worth $1.1 million with the Vancouver Canucks instead.
The loss of Dach is significant. However, the Canadiens were expecting more in 2025-26. Dach was involved in trade rumors in the summer as the Canadiens were trying to upgrade their offense with the loss of Christian Dvorak, who went to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Nick Foligno in 2025-26
Nick Foligno is the son of former Buffalo Sabres’s right winger Mike Foligno, and brother of Minnesota Wild left winger Marcus Foligno. Even though Nick Foligno does not provide a ton of offense, his leadership is always felt in the dressing room.
In 2025-26, Foligno has six assists in 15 games. He is a +2 with 16 penalty minutes, one power-play point, one shorthanded point, 16 shots on goal, 85 faceoff wins, 11 blocked shots, 41 hits, one takeaway, and seven giveaways.
The power-play point came in a 3-1 Blackhawks win over the Utah Mammoth on October 13. Foligno set up Andre Burakovsky for the game-winning goal at 8:55 of the third period to put the Blackhawks up 2-1.
The shorthanded point came in a 7-3 Blackhawks win over the Ottawa Senators on October 28. Foligno set up Frank Nazar of Detroit, Michigan to close out the scoring at 12:44 of the third period into an empty net. The takeaway came in a 4-0 Blackhawks win over the Calgary Flames on November 7.
