Montreal Canadiens' veteran Brendan Gallagher could be a victim of internal competition with multiple injured players nearing a return, and he's fully aware of that.
After practice in Ottawa on Friday afternoon, a few Montreal Canadiens players were made available to the media. Since three injured players had returned to practice, emphasis was placed on internal competition. Speaking to Brendan Gallagher, The Athletic’s Arpon Basu asked him whether their return added some urgency to his situation. Hinting at the possibility that he could be a healthy scratch, the alternate captain replied:
Yeah, I mean, I know what you are saying. Yeah, I think at the same time, you still have to play the game, you've got to do what you do, that’s always been a part of the business of it. You put those expectations and pressure on yourself regardless. So, I think, speaking for myself personally, I think you just got to go out there and try to help the team, don’t try to do too much, don’t try to expand, you try to help win the hockey game. It’s a big game coming up, and we know how desperate they are. It can be challenging at times for sure, but that’s one of the times that, as an athlete, you have to be mentally sharp.
You have to respect the alternate captain for taking the question head-on there and not getting defensive. At 33 years old, the winger knows that he’s not as productive as he once was, and that could make him vulnerable as the team starts to get healthy. GM Kent Hughes couldn’t stand pat when regular players kept going down to injury, and he added both Alexandre Texier and Phillip Danault, meaning the Canadiens will have a lot of NHL-calibre players and will have some tough choices to make.
Gallagher is now in the fifth year of a six-year contract, and he has played 882 games with the Canadiens. With 34 games left in the season and with the regular season being 84 games starting next season, there are 118 games left for the Canadiens before the end of the veteran’s contract. In other words, if he were to dress in each of those games, he would reach the 1,000-game mark that just escaped Andrei Markov back in 2017. Of course, that can’t dictate Martin St-Louis’ decision, but I still believe that the diminutive winger is much more suited to a bottom-six role than, say, Patrik Laine.
Texier is working very well with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield lately, while the kids’ line is on fire, which means that the top six should remain untouched, at least for now. Perhaps the answer could be to put Kirby Dach back with Zach Bolduc; they were linking up well at the start of the season, and to put Jake Evans with them. Then, on the fourth line, put Gallagher back with Phillip Danault; there is still some chemistry there, and add Josh Anderson to the mix. He would add some speed and grit to the line. That would mean taking Joe Veleno and Samuel Blais out of the lineup, but whatever option St-Louis picks, he’ll have to make hard choices.
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