Will the Canadiens Stand By Gallagher?

When Kent Hughes was asked at the end of this season if fans could expect the Montreal Canadiens to buy out a contract this off-season, the answer shot straight out of his mouth: no. A reply which leaves absolutely no room for speculation...for now in any case. 

Yesterday, I wrote a piece about the Scott Gomez trade and it's aftermath and I realized that in his last season with the Canadiens, the former number 11 played 38 games and put up only 11 points. In 2022-2023, the current number 11 played just 37 games and had 14 points to his name. There isn't that much of a difference is there?

Mathematically speaking, there isn't, but leadership wise, we are talking about apples and oranges here. Gallagher has given his life and soul to the Canadiens, he has proven time and time again that he bleeds red, white and blue. Gomez just passed through Montreal while his career was declining. 

I know, hockey is first and foremost a business, but contrarily to what former GM Marc Bergevin once said (if you want loyalty, buy a dog), I for one believe there is such a thing as loyalty in this particular business. Mind you, he himself seemed to have flipped his hat on that one when he signed Gallagher to his new contract. the GM got very emotive in the press conference about the new deal. 

The Canadiens shouldn't even be contending for the playoffs this season, and they have cap room so there was no need to buy anyone out. Next Summer, there will be two years left on the alternate captain's contract and with both Christian Dvorak and Joel Armia's contracts coming off the books, I don't foresee the team needing the cap room a Gallagher buyout would create.

In the 2026-2027 off-season, Gallagher will be about to enter the final year of his contract and I struggle to see Hughes deciding to buy him out for one year. Instead of his $6.5 million cap hit for one season, he would be using cap space on the diminutive winger for two seasons. So, unless he's under a huge cap crunch and has got no other choice...

Speaking about cap crunch, by then both Kirby Dach and Alex Newhook will be up for contract renewals. If everything goes according to plan, they should command a fair bit of change in their next deal. However, Hughes always seems to be ahead of the game so I wouldn't be surprised if he had already signed them to extensions and somehow managed to get the maths to work, stranger things have happened.

If anyone deserves to finish his career wearing the "Sainte-Flanelle", it's Gallagher and hopefully, the GM will find a way to make it happen.