Canadiens: The Big Surprise This Season

There are things you can see coming when you follow a hockey team and there are things that can still surprise you no matter how long you’ve been at it. With the Montreal Canadiens this season, there’s been one big surprise and it’s not rookie Lane Hutson, no it’s a well established veteran who most fans were complaining about last season.

Brendan Gallagher has had a tough time since the 2019-20 season, a lot of injuries that have taken their toll, shorten seasons after shorter seasons and a production that dipped. With the downward trend of his production, the criticism from the fans mounted up and calls to move him and his big contract grew louder.

This season though, we are seeing a new version of Gallagher, one that can both be a leader of man and an important core of the team. Coach Martin St-Louis said it best today when he was asked about the gritty right winger:

A player like Gally who’s combative and brings everyone [to battle] is a good example. He pulls people with him and the better he’s feeling, the better his confidence is and the easier it is for him to pull people. I’m super happy for him, he plays good hockey.

With 8 goals in 19 games, the veteran is on pace for 35 goals on the season which would be his most productive season to date. Of course, in order to maintain that pace, everything would have to go right and he’d have to avoid injuries, but it’s not completely out of the realm of possibilities. Furthermore, Gallagher is still playing on the second wave of the power play and when Patrik Laine return, wherever he returns, that second unit should improve and it should help.

The coach also explained what it takes for a player to stay with the same team for so long, “It doesn’t happen often and it’s not a question of luck” said the bench boss. For a player to stick, the pilot believe he has to produce, to be a good person, to have work ethic because if you’re not a good example, you’re not there for long.

It was reported to St-Louis that Gallagher said he was more of a “beer guy” when he told he’s like fine wine that improves over time, but the coach had another comparison in mind:

I think Gally, since I’ve been here, for me, he’s improved his software. Yes, you know, like the iPhone right? It goes from 5.0 to 6.0 to I don’t know, what are we now 15?[…] It’s never too late to improve the software, and when you improve the software, you have more options. I know Gally is really good in net front, he’s really good net front, but it’s not all he’s doing now. He’s doing way more and because he’s doing way more, not that he doesn’t spend time net front, but that’s not all he does. When you’re constantly battling with somebody in front of the net, it takes a toll and you’re probably prone to more injuries when that’s all you’re doing. […] He understand he has that, and sometimes it’s his turn to go, but it’s not the only job he has to do on the ice. He’s playing more of a complete game.

There you have it, the secret to the new and improved Gallagher according to the coach. If St-Louis is correct about the right winger being less likely to be injured with the new balance he found in his game, he might just maintain his current rhythm of production and if he does, he could have 43 points at the end of the season.

Related: Canadiens: Gallagher Didn’t Find The Fountain Of Youth

Should he reach that number, it would be the fourth most productive season of his career and to be honest, it couldn’t happen to a more deserving player. Gallagher has been Montreal’s ultimate warrior for 13 years now, he has bled for this team and to see his resurgence is both a surprise and a blessing for this young team.

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