The Montreal Canadiens rely on Brendan Gallagher for leadership, consistency, work ethic and more than ever, this season they are counting on him to lead them offensively.
The Montreal Canadiens struck gold when they took a chance on an undersized winger from Edmonton in the 2010 NHL Draft. Brendan Gallagher was a fifth round pick, even though he had put up some decent numbers with the Vancouver Giants in the 2009-10 season.
That was Gallagher’s second season with the Giants, after being taken in the ninth round of the WHL Bantam Draft in 2007. Gallagher had a solid rookie season for the Giants, scoring 31 points in 52 games but he exploded in his draft year with 41 goals and 81 points in 72 games. He added 21 points in 16 playoff contests as the Giants made some noise in the postseason.
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Still, Gallagher had to wait a long time before hearing his name at the NHL Draft. He was finally taken in the fifth round with the 147th pick of the draft. His numbers looked like those of a late first rounder or maybe second round pick, but he was and still is 5’9″ tall so he dropped more than 100 picks than he should have.
A lot of teams are surely regretting their decisions of that draft weekend as Gallagher quickly proved he could handle playing at the NHL level, despite his smaller stature. He scored 15 goals and 28 points in 44 games as a 20 year old rookie in 2013.
Since then, he has continued to improve every year. Gallagher set a career high with points in 2017-18 with 54. He then had his best goal scoring season in 2018-19 with 33.
This season, he once again upped his game and is proving to be better than ever. He has 14 goals and 26 points in 32 games. If he can continue at that rate, he will finish the year with 36 goals and 67 points. Both would represent new career highs for the 27 year old winger.
Gallagher’s true value comes from much more than the points he scores, but his ability to increase his point totals every year obviously make him more valuable. He also has an innate ability to will his teammates into battle during almost every game. He brings a passion, intensity and desire to win to the rink every single night and his enthusiasm is obviously contagious.
Gallagher being on pace for 67 points shows how well he is playing and his 26 points has him tied with Brayden Schenn and Mark Stone just inside the top 50 scorers in the league this season. Oddly, almost none of Gallagher’s points have come on the power play as he does all of his damage at even strength.
He has scored 24 of his 26 points this season at even strength. Only 12 players have been able to create more offence while the other team has the same number of players on the ice. Gallagher is tied with Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews and Jonathan Huberdeau in even strength points which shows he can score at an elite level when no one is in the penalty box.
The odd thing is Gallagher hasn’t been able to produce while the Habs are on the power play. For whatever reason, it just hasn’t been his biggest strength during his career. He works so hard in front of the net and scores plenty of goals from the front of the net at even strength. You would think that would translate well to the man advantage but it just hasn’t.
If Gallagher can figure out how to produce on the power play, he would shoot up the scoring leaders chart. He has shown that he is an elite scorer at even strength, but doesn’t score enough on the power play to be among the leading scorers in the league.
If you had to choose between an excellent power play specialist and an exceptional player at even strength, you would take the player that can produce at five-on-five. Luckily, the Habs have one fo the best in the league at the latter. He doesn’t get quite the recognition that he deserves, but Gallagher is one of the top scorers in the league at even strength.