Brendan Gallagher says he’s ready to play shorthanded

You can hear him say this at the 59th minute of the episode.

It’s pretty interesting that #11 suggests this, as it can certainly come in handy in this situation.

We know that Gally isn’t afraid to sacrifice his body while playing, and he could block shots.

In his career, he averaged 0.46 blocked shots per game, which isn’t huge, but still respectable.

With some short-handed playing time, he could very well boost that statistic.

He’s had shorthanded time in the past, but no longer plays in that situation since there were guys like Jake Evans, Christian Dvorak or even Joel Armia.

However, you have to bear in mind that the latter two may not be back next year, which will leave room for a guy like Gally.

On the other hand, just last night, Arpon Basu raised the possibility that Dvorak could re-sign with the Habs, but only after testing the waters in the free agent market.

But in any case, if Dvorak does return, he’ll be playing center, since he’d be the only left-handed center (besides Alex Newhook) and Gallagher would be playing on the short-handed wing.

Gallagher could logically take Armia’s place.

We can also expect Josh Anderson to find himself on one of the short-handed lines, as he has taken over and done very well.

In short, the options are there, but we can expect Evans, Suzuki, Anderson and possibly Gallagher to evolve short-handed (if Armia and Dvo aren’t back).

But let’s not rule out the possibility of Oliver Kapanen or even Owen Beck forcing the Habs into the final line-up and eating up some shorthanded minutes.

Overtime

– It would be interesting for the Ducks.

– That, my friends, is a throw.

– Everything seems to be going swimmingly for the Alouettes against the Ottawa Rouge et Noir tonight.