Reflecting on Brendan Gallagher’s Canadiens Tenure

I’ve followed the Montreal Canadiens closely for a long time, almost obsessively. At every draft, I delved deeply into the prospects, searching for any glimmer of hope during a period when hope was in short supply in Montreal. Carey Price was there for a long time, sure, but before him and even during his tenure, the Canadiens never had a lineup that gave you much to get excited about. But that’s a story for another day.

I remember hearing about Brendan Gallagher, a diminutive player from the Vancouver Giants in the Western Hockey League. At first glance, all I could think was that sometimes you take a flyer, but I doubted this guy would ever make the NHL. Then I dug deeper. I learned that his father, Ian, was the strength and conditioning coach for the Giants, and that Brendan had grown up around the rink as a result, essentially doing his own version of daycare in the weight room, watching future NHL players go through their paces.

He’d inherited that same gym-rat mentality, and it showed. I also learned he’d eventually worn the captain’s C for the Giants, which was notable for a player his size. Then I read article after article about his conditioning, his drive to succeed despite his physical limitations, and his impressive production. Interesting, I thought, but I still didn’t believe he’d ever have a real impact.

The Rookie Who Couldn’t Be Stopped

I can’t recall every detail of his emergence in the NHL, but I remember his rookie season alongside Alex Galchenyuk vividly. What a contrast, a third-overall pick and a fifth-rounder, and both came in and made an immediate impact. But Gallagher was something else. This little guy could not be stopped. The drive, the ferocity, the refusal to be denied, which shaped his entire career in Montreal.

If anyone could ever figure out how to bottle that spirit, his passion, his compete level, and transfer it to the rest of a roster, you’d have a Stanley Cup contender that simply could not be beaten. Yet time and again you’d see players with more natural talent and size who lacked that same drive and fire, and you’d scratch your head and wonder: why can’t these guys just do what Gallagher does?

The answer, I’ve come to believe, is that it isn’t as simple as effort. It comes down to personality, bravery, commitment, and integrity. Gallagher is Gallagher. You can’t manufacture that.

Class Above All

There are some comparables in terms of size, compete level, and skill. Brad Marchand comes to mind, and more recently, Zach Benson. But the comparison only goes so far, because the one thing Gallagher possesses that those players do not is class.

He got a reputation early on for making life difficult for goaltenders, and perhaps he was frustrated by how little protection the referees gave him despite the punishment he absorbed in front of the net. But he was never dirty. He never displayed poor sportsmanship. He never did anything to tarnish the reputation or the tradition of the Canadiens organization. He simply competed at an unrivalled level, and he did it the right way every single shift, in every single game.

The Miles Catch Up

Analysts often warned that he was putting hard miles on his body and that it couldn’t last forever, and it seemed like this past season was finally the turning point. The speed wasn’t quite there anymore. There had been signs the season before, but the team needed him, and he delivered, 21 goals, which was absolutely remarkable. By the end of this past season, though, you could see that the team had moved on, that they were able to compete without him giving every last inch of himself. That proved to be that.

There will always be a special place in my heart for players who treat every regular-season game like it’s Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, every shift, every whistle, every night, whether the game means everything or nothing. That was Gallagher.

Montreal Is Home

His connection to Montreal runs far deeper than hockey. His wife is French Canadian, and they have one child born here, with another on the way. Montreal isn’t just the city where Gallagher played his career; it’s where he built his family and put down roots. It’s home in every sense of the word.

Unfortunately, the business of hockey is cold and detached, and in this case, the team is moving on. If it were truly up to him, he’d play his last game as a Canadien and retire in Montreal. My guess is that’s exactly how it ends, with one of those ceremonial one-day contracts. This city is his.

More Than Numbers

Whatever Gallagher does after hockey, you already know how it’s going to go. That’s just the kind of person he is. Maybe he can bottle that competitive level literally, launch the Gallagher supplement, the Gallagher energy drink, something you can sell at the rink between periods. In all seriousness, though, the reality is pretty simple. You either are Gallagher or you aren’t. No supplement is going to fix that.

He doesn’t have Hall of Fame numbers. He doesn’t have a long list of accolades. The Canadiens never won a Cup with him in the lineup, though they came heartbreakingly close. But in my book, Gallagher has something much more rare, and something I had wished every Canadien had throughout his entire career. There is simply nothing bad you can say about the man, and it will be sad to see him wearing another team’s uniform.​