The Heart and Soul of the Montreal Canadiens is Back

Brendan Gallagher has been the heart and soul of the Montreal Canadiens for as long as I can remember. I can barely recall what the Canadiens looked like before the Gallagher era.

He was drafted in 2010 by the Montreal Canadiens, and has spent his entire NHL career with them – this is his ninth year as a Hab, and he still has six more years to go.

When people think Montreal Canadiens, they automatically think Brendan Gallagher. Not only does he go to the dirty areas to get goals and fight for the puck, but his energy on (and off) the ice is just out of this world.

Whether we hear it from every player on the team or see it with our own eyes, there is no explaining it. Gallagher just is the Canadiens’ heart and soul.

Brendan Gallagher’s Stats with the Montreal Canadiens

This season, Gallagher played 35 games before being placed on LTIR after receiving a puck to the hand and breaking his thumb. In these games, the Edmonton-native collected 14 goals and nine assists, totalling 23 points.

Last regular season, he had 22 goals and 21 assists, or 43 points, in 59 games. That’s 20 more points than this year while playing 24 more games.

In last year’s postseason, Gallagher amassed one goal and three assists in nine games played.

While his numbers have been pretty consistent over the past few years, it’s also just remarkable how much of a difference he makes when he’s on the ice.

Let’s take this season as an example.

In the 35 games he played in, the Habs were 17-9-9. After that, the Habs went 7-12-2 for a total record of 24-21-11.

Although a lot of players got injured, especially towards the end of the season, I think the overall performance of the Canadiens started going downhill when Gallagher got injured.

If that doesn’t tell how big a factor he is to the team, I don’t know what does.

We could also say the same about Carey Price, who is just as important as Gallagher is to the team. He was diagnosed with a concussion two weeks after Gallagher broke his thumb, and they both haven’t played since April.

Of course, this followed with Captain Shea Weber, Philip Danault, and more. But, the Habs started looking different as soon as Gallagher left the ice.

In order to get ready for Game 1, Gallagher and Price will be playing with the AHL’s Laval Rocket tonight against the Toronto Marlies at 7 p.m. EST. Price is expected to play for only half the game.