Brendan Gallagher: Kent Hughes’ problem with no solution

The Habs play their next games tomorrow at the Bell Centre against the Sabres, then the following day in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. No, Jaromir Jagr will not be in uniform…

Neither for the Penguins nor for the Habs…

But Brendan Gallagher will be at his position. Which position? Right winger on the third or fourth line. That’s the role Martin St-Louis has given him since his return to action (after a five-game suspension)… alongside Brandon Gignac and Michael Pezzetta or Joel Armia and Jake Evans.

What’s new? Is Brendan Gallagher’s suspension over?

What’s up? Did Gallagher miss any games?

Many of you have seen no difference with or without Gallagher in the Montreal lineup.

On February 15, on his return to action, he spent 14 minutes on the ice, finishing the game with no shots, no points and a plus-1 rating.

Two days later, he posted the same statistics, but with two fewer minutes on the ice.

In short, Gally is at the end of his rope. And he’ll never fill up again.

This season, Brendan Gallagher has 16 points in 50 games. He’s on track for his worst career production (points per game) since joining the NHL. And his worst differential…

The problem is, Gallagher’s salary is $8 million this season… and he’ll make $9 million next year. He’ll be 32 in May, and he’s not getting any younger. Especially not physically!

His body is already quite hypothecated and damaged.

But what can we do with Gallagher, who still has three years left on his contract at an average cap hit of $6.5 million after the current season?

Hope that he’ll get his mojo back? Forget it. It’s extremely rare for a guy with Gallagher’s style of play to come back to life in his thirties.

Trade him? No one will want to take his contract… which is one of the worst in the National League, along with those of Seth Jones, Kevin Hayes, Darnell Nurse, Jonathan Huberdeau, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Marc-Édouard Vlasic and Josh Anderson. Even at 50% of his salary, I can’t think of any NHL team that would want Gallagher. And I don’t see how Kent Hughes could agree to keep 50% of Gallagher’s salary for three years!

Buy out his contract? Hmm… that would hurt Montreal’s accounting structure until June 2030! In 2026-27, when the club may be aspiring to big honors, could we really afford to have nearly $5 million allocated to Brendan Gallagher who’s no longer playing?

We’ll have to put up with it… and accept that he’ll fall into emotions/frustrations from time to time. Gallagher is a proud competitor, and he’s most likely the first to see that the Gallagher of 2024 is far from the Gallagher of 2017. And that, like a tube of toothpaste, once it’s out, the toothpaste can’t get back in.

Marc Bergevin, who got us used to always signing good contracts and completing good transactions, really screwed up at the end of his run with the Habs. #Armia #Dvorak #Gallagher #ByeByePerry #ByeByeDanault #MerciMarc

The only hope – because yes, we can “hope ” – is to see him take the Robidas Island/Price/Wideman/NameIt route and end his career on the LTIR. Kent Hughes could therefore exceed the salary cap by around $6.5 million once the season begins. But sailing through the summer with the cap hits of Gallagher and Price would make life difficult for him in the off-season…

Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes will have to find the least worst solution… because there just isn’t a good solution with the Canadiens’ little #11.

Reminder: Gallagher will most likely have to glove up with Adam Pelech on April 11, in order to respect the “code”. We hope he fares better than Paul Byron did the day he ate a whole volley against MacKenzie Weegar. As much as I “hope” to see him finish his career on the LTIR, I don’t wish him any further injuries. He’s been through enough as it is.

Extension

– Last night, we shot the fourth episode of the Stanley25 podcast, which ended with a nice chat with Kevin Gilmore, former president of CF Montreal. The episode should be out on Thursday, if all goes well (and it should, hehe).

I asked him several times about the Impact’s name and logo change… and let’s just say that some of his answers alone are worth a Patreon subscription for free viewing on YouTube or Spotify.

– Speaking of our new podcast, I can’t believe how many of you have been listening to it online since its release two weeks ago. Much love to each and every one of you, especially if you left a 5-star rating at the end of your listening session.

Where does it end?

The Stanley25 podcast is now the 11th most popular podcast IN CANADA on Spotify (and still the 1st in French).

Much love guys! pic.twitter.com/KylM7WyC0T

– Maxime Truman (@MaximeTruman) February 20, 2024

– I’m curious: have you ever bought anything from Le Panier Bleu? I don’t know anyone who has. Write to me privately if you’ve been a customer of our $16 million site. You know where to find me…