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Canadiens\u2019 Brendan Gallagher is the team\u2019s oldest player at 33 and has one more season left on his contract with a US$6.5 million salary-cap hit. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\nLane Hutson\u2019s first NHL assist came in his first game with the Canadiens at the end of the 2023-24 season when he joined the team for the final two games of the regular season after leaving Boston University.<\/p>\n
Brendan Gallagher scored the goal 4:25 into the first period of what ended up being a 5-4 overtime loss to the Red Wings in Detroit.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing I\u2019ll remember when I got an assist on his goal, he let me go first in the line (to the bench to celebrate),\u201d Hutson recalled after the Canadiens practised Thursday in Brossard. \u201cIt\u2019s a small thing, but it\u2019s pretty cool that a guy like that was doing that and taking care of the younger guys.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike any young guy who has come in when he\u2019s been here, he makes you feel so comfortable right away,\u201d Hutson added. \u201cHe wants you to be a part of the team. It\u2019s fun being around him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canadiens\u2019 Brendan Gallagher is the team\u2019s oldest player at 33 and has one more season left on his contract with a US$6.5 million salary-cap hit. John Mahoney \/ Montreal Gazette<\/p>\n
Things haven\u2019t been fun for Gallagher recently. The 33-year-old, who is in his 14th season with the Canadiens, was made a healthy scratch for four consecutive games before playing in the regular-season finale, a 4-2 loss to the Flyers in Philadelphia on Tuesday. Gallagher scored his seventh goal of the season and his first in 20 games and was one of the team\u2019s best players.<\/p>\n
Judging by the forward lines at practice Thursday, Gallagher won\u2019t be in the lineup when the Canadiens open their first-round playoff series against the Lightning Sunday in Tampa. The fourth line had Phillip Danault at centre between Josh Anderson and Jake Evans.<\/p>\n
Father Time is undefeated and Gallagher is starting to lose the battle after a lot of tough miles and injuries on his 5-foot-9, 185-pound body. He has a hard time keeping up with the fast-paced style the Canadiens play now, but he won\u2019t go down without a fight and he showed that in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really close with him and it\u2019s not been the easiest of times for him,\u201d Evans told reporters in Philadelphia after playing on the fourth line with Gallagher and Joe Veleno. \u201cWhen I saw I was playing with him I knew what we were getting tonight. He\u2019s just a true competitor and a great teammate. When he gets out on the ice wearing that jersey he\u2019s giving it his all and he did that again tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
You have to wonder if the game in Philadelphia might have been the last for Gallagher with the Canadiens.<\/p>\n
The oldest player on the team has one more season left on his contract with a US$6.5 million salary-cap hit and he wants to play. It will be interesting to see if Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes tries to trade him this summer somewhere he can play next season while eating some of his salary, or looks to buy out the final year of his contract, making Gallagher a free agent.<\/p>\n
Gallagher\u2019s situation reminds me of Denis Savard when the Canadiens won their last Stanley Cup in 1993. Savard wasn\u2019t happy about being scratched for the last four games of the Cup final against the Los Angeles Kings, but head coach Jacques Demers brought him behind the bench as an assistant.<\/p>\n
After the Canadiens won the Cup Savard was in tears and hugged Demers, saying: \u201cI won my Stanley Cup!\u201d<\/p>\n
Savard, who was 32 at the time, would go on to play four more seasons in the NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019s not done,\u201d Danault said about his good friend Gallagher after a recent game in which he was scratched. \u201cBut it\u2019s the game. It\u2019s fast and it changes a lot. Gally\u2019s got 900 games. He\u2019s played so much and played with his heart on the line every single night. It\u2019s a business at the end of the day, too. It\u2019s not easy for anybody and especially for a guy like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the Canadiens started their rebuild more than four years ago it wasn\u2019t great timing for Gallagher, who was at a point where he wanted to win a Stanley Cup before his career was over. Now that the Canadiens are getting closer to reaching that ultimate goal with the rebuild ahead of schedule, he is getting pushed to the side by younger players.<\/p>\n
But the Canadiens wouldn\u2019t be where they are now without Gallagher. What he did for Hutson after the defenceman\u2019s first NHL assist speaks volumes about his impact on the young players. <\/p>\n
\u201cGally has been great to me the whole time,\u201d said Juraj Slafkovsky, who joined the Canadiens as an 18-year-old after being the No. 1 overall pick at the 2022 NHL Draft. \u201cI don\u2019t sit far away from him in the locker room. Just hanging out with him around the rink talking, the hockey stuff, the way I should play, that\u2019s one thing. But just hanging out with him and making all these jokes. He really makes you feel good around this team. \u2026 He\u2019s been great to me and I\u2019m sure all the other guys that came at the same time as me can say the same.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe we will see Gallagher in the lineup at some point in the playoffs and you know exactly what you\u2019ll get from him. We saw that in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Whatever happens, the impact Gallagher has had on the young Canadiens will continue to be felt long after he\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n