Gallagher and Byron nab honours
Players made the most of opportunities despite team missing the playoffs
Marc Bergevin has made some mistakes as general manager of the Canadiens — which is why the team will miss the playoffs for the second time in three years — but he made a very good move when he claimed Paul Byron off waivers from the Calgary Flames on Oct. 6, 2015.
Byron has become one of the Canadiens’ most consistent and hard-working forwards, picking up a goal in Tuesday night’s game against the Winnipeg Jets at the Bell Centre to give him 20-15-35 totals after setting career highs in goals and points during the 201617 season with 22-21-43 totals.
On Tuesday, the Canadiens announced that Byron is this season’s winner of the Jacques Beauchamp-Molson Trophy, awarded annually to the member of the team who played a dominant role during the regular season without earning any particular honour. Byron also won the award — which is voted on by members of the Montreal media — during his first season with the Canadiens, when he posted 11-7-18 totals in 62 games. Phillip Danault won the award last season.
“The biggest thing for me is knowing and believing that I’m not just a fourth-line player anymore,” Byron said after the Canadiens’ morning skate Tuesday in Brossard. “I always felt like I needed to prove myself as a fourth-line guy … I had to go out there and hit and penalty-kill, and that was going to be my role. But I can bring more than that. I’ve been an offensive guy, I’m able to play really good, stout defence. I can kill penalties. Being able to do a little bit of everything is really what’s got me here and I’m grateful for every opportunity I got here in Montreal.”
The Canadiens have made some bad draft picks over the years, but Brendan Gallagher was a very good one, selected in the fifth round (147th overall) at the 2010 NHL Draft. On Tuesday, the Canadiens announced Gallagher is the Molson Cup Player of the Year, winning the honour for the first time in his career.
Gallagher picked up an assist on Tuesday night, giving him 30-2252 totals, setting career highs in goals and points. Gallagher is also the winner of the monthly Molson Cup — determined by the three-star selections after games — for the March-April segment of the season.
Gallagher joked that the Molson Cup Player of the Year award is really the Carey Price Cup because the goalie won it for the seventh time last season. Gallagher called the Molson Cup “a nice honour.”
When asked if this has been the best season of his career, Gallagher said: “I don’t know. It’s hard to say that. You just try and be a consistent player every game and it was no different this year and, obviously, we have three games left here to continue it. But I was just trying to be myself every game. Try to be consistent, do whatever you can do to contribute.
“It’s not always scoring goals … this year I was pretty fortunate, a lot of pucks went in,” he added. “But it can also go the other way and I’ve been through slumps in my career as well where sometimes you’re doing the right things and pucks aren’t going in. So you try not to measure it by that, but certainly I’ve been pretty happy with just the consistency that I’ve been able to have this year and hopefully I can continue that for three (more) games.”
Byron and Gallagher, both listed at 5-foot-9, are the two smallest players on the Canadiens, but they have definitely displayed the biggest hearts this season.
I was just trying to be myself every game. Try to be consistent, do whatever you can do to contribute.