Canadiens: Evans Is The New Gallagher

No, Jake Evans has never scored 30 goals in a season like the old Brendan Gallagher, and he never will, but from a leadership standpoint, he is the Montreal Canadiens’ new Gallagher. He's a veteran influence in the lineup, willing to sacrifice his body for the team and always leading by example.

Just like Gallagher, Evans isn’t the first on the ice for practice, but he approaches every drill as if it were an in-game situation, much like the Edmonton native always did. He has the same work ethic, which isn't surprising since he was one of Gallagher’s best friends in Montreal.

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With the captain missing time due to injury, Evans is one of the new players to wear an A on his jersey, and that’s a true testament to how much Martin St-Louis values his influence on the team’s culture. When Gallagher was still with the team, he was the one who would tell the goaltender it was time to lead the guys onto the ice for warm-ups or the game start with a slap on their backside; now that number 11 has moved on, Evans has taken over that duty.

He doesn’t have a glamorous role, centering the fourth line and killing penalties, but he’s as reliable as they come, and since Nick Suzuki’s injury, he’s one of the players who has seen his ice time go up. While the captain was still in the lineup, his ice time hardly ever reached 14 minutes. Since then, in four games, he has skated 17:12, 18:06, 15:24, and 16:57, and he has been tasked with all kinds of important missions.

In the final minute of the Canadiens’ win over the Dallas Stars, Evans and Phillip Danault protected the lead while the Stars had six skaters, and they ended up on a breakaway alone with an empty net. Evans had the puck and could easily have scored, but instead he passed to Danault, who had yet to score this season, and let him drive the final nail into the Stars’ coffin. That was great leadership, especially since it took Danault quite a while to open his account last season. Evans knew he didn’t need that kind of distraction two years in a row, and he took away that possibility. That’s the kind of selfless leader Evans is and the kind of guy you need on a team.

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