Montreal Canadiens: Players who must step up with Brendan Gallagher out

The Montreal Canadiens recalled Dale Weise with Brendan Gallagher up, but several adjustments will need to be made to make up for the absence.

It wasn’t the sweetest end to 2019 for the Montreal Canadiens. Not only did they sink further in the standings with their third-straight loss this time at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes, but they also lost Brendan Gallagher in the process.

A collision with teammate Ben Chiarot‘s knee after taking the initial hit from Jordan Staal sent Gallagher down to the ice for some time. He eventually wound up skating to the locker room with the team trainer and did not return to the game.

There has yet to be an official announcement from the Montreal Canadiens organization only that he is out with an upper-body injury.

Replacing Gallagher and what he brought to the lineup is going to be very difficult. Gallagher is second in goal-scoring and overall points behind Tomas Tatar with 15 goals and 17 assists in 40 games. Most of that production has come at even strength with only four of his helpers coming on the man advantage.

That’s been the main characteristic of that top-line as a whole. They’re relentless at 5v5 and work the boards very well down low to recover the puck and get second and third opportunities on goal. That said, Gallagher is the ring-leader of this production at even strength, while Phillip Danault has found ways to capitalize as well.