Honouring Brendan Gallagher’s NHL Career

From the moment he played his first NHL game on January 22nd, 2013, Gallagher has been a warrior who has been relentless on the forecheck, outworking everyone to be able to have an NHL career. He managed to do this despite being just 5’9″ and 175 LBS throughout his 900-game career. Gallagher has never been the most skilled or the best in any particular skill throughout his career, but it was his work ethic and relentlessness that made him have success as a top 6 forward during the prime of his career.

At his best, he was an amazing little pest for opposing goaltenders, as he would park himself in front of the net on the majority of his shifts looking for rebounds as he took punishment from his opponents at nearly every whistle. The fact that his body even stayed together to play 900 NHL games is quite impressive considering the way that he played.

Of course, his style of play led to multiple injuries, including getting Shea Weber’s wicked slapshot off the hand, which essentially obliterated one of his fingers. Nonetheless, he was able to have a respectable career, which included 30-goal seasons, during a time when the team needed someone to step up and create offence on their team in the late 2010s.

Even though he has slowed down tremendously this season after having a 22-goal season just a year ago, Gallagher continues to be a leader by example with his relentless work ethic; the only difference is that this year the body is starting to break down. With that being said, he is likely to be in and out of the lineup down the stretch as long as the roster stays healthy the rest of the way. Giving him a night off once in a while will allow him to still have the legs to perform when it is needed most.

An interesting fact about Gallagher’s career is that he scored his first NHL goal against the legendary Martin Brodeur, who is certainly a memorable goaltender to get his first NHL marker against. He has scored 244 more times since then, as he currently sits with 245 goals for his career.

Nobody ever expected Gallagher to get as far as he did throughout his NHL career, and at the end of the day when it’s all said and done, his career can be looked at as extremely successful for an undersized winger that didn’t necessarily have the most skill in the world. To top things off he finished his 900th game with an assist on Tuesday night.

Way to go for getting to game 900, Brendan!!