Montreal Canadiens: Brendan Gallagher must be the standard in the future

The Montreal Canadiens are going to go through changes this summer, but Brendan Gallagher should be the level of expectation from everyone on the team.

Development and culture are going to be the two most used words when it comes to the Montreal Canadiens. Team owner Geoff Molson has called for evaluations and changes to make the organization better moving forward. Additionally, Marc Bergevin has some sort of master plan that you have to think relies heavily on the NHL Entry Draft and July 1st.

It’s safe to say that player movement and in and out of the organization is going to be a constant. The thing is, none of that matters as much as this: the Montreal Canadiens need to decide what team they’re going to be and stick to it. Obviously, the significance of adding key youth and other contributing factors in free agency is enticing, but what is done once they get here?

Sure, they could make other players on the team better performance-wise (especially Rasmus Dahlin and John Tavares…imagine the possibilities), but that’s not all that comes to playing in the NHL. Just recently, the issue of the team’s effort has been brought to light after what Paul Byron said after a practice last week. It didn’t take his comments to get people to notice, it was obvious.

During some games, more often than not, players who the Montreal Canadiens depended on for support or pushback chose to coast instead. Now Devil’s advocate, it can be hard to get pumped up for a game in March when you know there’s nothing to play for past April 7th. However, as Byron mentioned, it’s frustrating for others on the team to be playing their hardest and see others doing the exact opposite. It also goes against everything Claude Julien has emphasized all season in that hard-working hockey is winning hockey.

Making sure the Montreal Canadiens never finish this low again is important. But you also want to make sure that the team’s effort level on a nightly basis is never put into question. The team needs a standard, a focal point, someone who you can point to and say, “I need to get to his level.” That player is and has been all season, Brendan Gallagher.

There’s a reason fans and NHL analysts have all agreed that Gallagher is the heart and soul of the Montreal Canadiens. To put it simply, the guy just doesn’t know when to quit. Regardless of the score or the team’s chances at making the playoffs, Gallagher hit just as hard, skated just as fast, and took the repetitive beatings to generate chances. The 25-year-old’s offensive production this year is a prime example of what doing the things he does can do for you.