GALLAGHER LOOKS LIKE BEST BET FOR TOP LINE
He may not be the obvious choice, but Julien thinks he’s found the guy for the job
One of the biggest questions heading into the Canadiens’ training camp was who would play right wing on the No. 1 line with Jonathan Drouin at centre and Max Pacioretty on the left.
At the team’s annual golf tournament before the start of camp, head coach Claude Julien didn’t rule out the possibility of using Alex Galchenyuk — a left-handed shot — on the right side this season, but that never happened. Galchenyuk stayed on left wing throughout camp, playing with a variety of players, while Ales Hemsky started out at right wing on the No. 1 line.
When asked early in camp why he thought he would be a good fit with Drouin and Pacioretty, Hemsky smiled and said: “I don’t know if I’m a good fit.”
It turns out he wasn’t.
As camp ended, it was Brendan Gallagher who had earned the right-wing spot on the No. 1 line, and you can expect him to be there when the Canadiens open the regular season Thursday night in Buffalo against the Sabres (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN Radio 690). In the Canadiens’ final pre-season game Saturday night at the Bell Centre against the Ottawa Senators, Gallagher scored two goals, added an assist and was named the first star, while Pacioretty had a goal and two assists and Drouin picked up three assists.
Gallagher’s first goal came while he was banging away at the puck in the Ottawa crease. A typical Gally goal — something Canadiens fans have grown accustomed to since the 5-foot-9, 181-pounder first made the team in the 2012-13 season after being a fifth-round pick (147th overall) in the 2010 NHL draft.
But Gallagher struggled last season, scoring a career-low 10 goals in 64 games after his left hand was shattered for the second straight season, this time on a slapshot by Shea Weber.
“I know what kind of a player he is and what he brings,” Julien said about Gallagher after Saturday’s game. “Sometimes you just have to look at your lines and what they have and what they need. I thought at some point, that line, if they could have somebody that was going to forecheck and create some turnovers and some space for those other two guys, it would be a good blend — but there was no guarantees. I had to see it and I had to try it. That line has responded well to that mix.
“He’s a hard worker,” Julien added about Gallagher. “He’s been snake-bitten a little bit with some injuries in the past, which have probably slowed him down. But I thought at the end of last year, just before the playoffs, I thought he had found his groove again and I thought he was going well. He was the Gallagher that I knew coaching against him (in Boston): always on top of the puck, always in your face and never backing up from anything. His goal tonight was a typical Gallagher goal, standing in front and poking at the puck and jamming away. That’s what a line like that sometimes needs to be successful.”
The players had their second straight day off Monday, but the team made three more cuts, sending goalie Charlie Lindgren down to the AHL’s Laval Rocket and placing forwards Andreas Martinsen and Byron Froese on waivers. That means they still have 24 players heading into practice Tuesday morning in Brossard, one above the NHL roster limit for opening night, and defenceman David Schlemko has been sidelined with a hand injury. When Schlemko is healthy, the final cut will most likely be Brandon Davidson or Joe Morrow. With 13 forwards, Julien will have to decide between Torrey Mitchell and Jacob De La Rose — who scored twice Saturday night — as the fourth-line centre.
As for Gallagher, Julien has given him a great opportunity to get off to a good start and put last season’s disappointment behind him.
“It’s a new year,” Gallagher said midway through training camp. “I think every year you come back, you’re excited — new opportunity. It might sound cheesy to say this, but I never really thought about (last season) all that much in the summer. You’re just trying to think about what you need to do to help your team win and to be a good player for your teammates. Growing up, I’ve always had that mentality, and when you take care of stuff like that, the goals, the assists, the points and stuff kind of take care of itself.”
Gallagher said his left hand will never be what it was before getting shattered twice, but he’s comfortable with it now and his grip at the top of his stick is almost back to normal. As for his style of play, don’t expect anything to change.
“I’ve never been the biggest guy, the strongest guy, the quickest guy … never the best really at anything,” Gallagher said late last season. “My strength has always been just try to outwork whoever I’m against on the ice.”
Gally looks like a very good fit with Drouin and Pacioretty.
Sometimes you just have to look at your lines and what they have and what they need.