What on-ice role will Brendan Gallagher play for Canucks?
The Vancouver Canucks are counting on a couple of veterans to help reset the culture, though general manager Ryan Johnson doesn’t like that particular word.
“Culture, to me, is one of the most overused words in sports and business,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday morning ahead of Canucks training camp. “I don’t feel a lot of people really know what it means. But we’ve talked about an environment that we want to build here.”
Part of building that environment was bringing in Brendan Gallagher, Luke Schenn, and Jamie Oleksiak, who come with a wealth of experience, character, and leadership. They know that they’ll be expected to play a large role off the ice.
“He’s already been texting me here since the news came out,” Schenn said about Gallagher after signing with the Canucks. “We’re both really excited to come join the Canucks, and obviously we’re experienced guys and feel like we can definitely help out in different areas.
“The big word is culture, and we’d really, really like to help out any way we can with that.”
Gallagher, for his part, sees his role as working directly with the team’s youth and getting them on the right track.
“I hope there’s some young players I can help out, help expedite their development in certain areas of what being a pro is all about,” said Gallagher. “One of the most important things we did [in Montreal]…we created a really good culture, and that comes from your darkest days and having guys that want to be around and are committed to the process.
“Any organization, whether sport or anything, is nothing without culture, and first and foremost that will be the focus, and I think that’s something I can help with.”
But there’s a difference between what those veteran players bring in the room and in practice and what they might bring on the ice.
Canucks fans already know Schenn’s game well after his previous two stints in Vancouver, though he’s likely to play a lesser role this go-around at the age of 36 and with young defencemen champing at the bit for ice time.
It’s also fairly easy to project the role Oleksiak will play, as he can fill in on the left side of the top two pairings until Zeev Buium and Elias Pettersson displace him.
Gallagher, on the other hand, is a bit of a wild card.
How last season went in Montreal
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The former Vancouver Giants star has played his entire NHL career with the Montreal Canadiens, scoring 246 goals and 487 points in 911 career games. He’s just a season removed from scoring 21 goals.
Last season, however, Gallagher saw his role diminish significantly in Montreal. He played primarily on the third line at even strength, but his actual ice time was more that of a fourth-liner, though he also got time on the second power-play unit.
Gallagher’s average ice time of 12:21 per game was the lowest of his career.
In the playoffs, Gallagher was a healthy scratch for the Canadiens’ first four games against the Tampa Bay Lightning. When he finally returned in Game 5, he scored the opening goal but played under seven minutes in that game and the two games that followed as the Canadiens eliminated the Lightning.
He didn’t play at all in the Canadiens’ second- and third-round series. The writing was on the wall.
The rebuilt Canadiens decided that Gallagher could no longer play a role on the ice in Montreal. But what about the just-starting-their-rebuild Canucks?
Where will Gallagher fit in the Canucks’ lineup?
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Is Gallagher going to get top-six opportunities alongside Elias Pettersson or Marco Rossi? Will he play on the power play on the first or second unit? Can he be a 20-goal scorer one more time at the age of 33?
Or will Gallagher play more of a depth role on the third or fourth line? Note, he has never played on the penalty kill (he had a career high of 15 seconds per game shorthanded back in 2017-18), so that role’s unlikely.
“The players’ play will dictate where they belong in the lineup,” said head coach Manny Malhotra, a common refrain in Wednesday’s press conference, to the point that he paused and used it as a punch line at one point to appreciative laughter.
But that means that Gallagher could earn a role at the top of the Canucks’ lineup, or a younger player like Linus Karlsson or Jonathan Lekkerimäki could demand playing time with how they perform.
“When you look at Gally, the thing that stands out for us is his presence in terms of the way he competes and the tenacity that he plays with and the passion that he has for the game,” continued Malhotra. “So, for me, the importance of a guy like him in our room in terms of teaching what the game’s supposed to look like from an intensity standpoint, from a competitive standpoint, that’s gonna be a big part of his role.
“We’ve talked about it over and over. The way we practice is gonna dictate a lot of how we play. So, his energy and his excitement when he comes to the rink, the way he competes in practice, having seen it firsthand, is something that we’re looking forward to for this group.”