Brendan Gallagher Is an Important Loss
The Montreal Canadiens win over the New York Islanders on Sunday night came at a high price; as the Habs lost Brendan Gallagher to injury. Gallagher retreated to the locker room as soon as he could, after blocking a Johnny Boychuk slap shot in the 2nd period of a 4-2 Canadiens win. Brendan Gallagher suffered two fractured fingers after blocking the shot. Gallagher, 23, was putting up excellent numbers through the first 22 games of the season. He had scored 9 goals and 10 assists for 19 points.
Brendan Gallagher’s absence is going to leave a significant hole in the Canadiens lineup. In the win against the Islanders, struggling winger Alexander Semin stepped in to Gallagher’s spot on the first line. The injury list is beginning to lengthen for the Habs, as Gallagher joins Torrey Mitchell, Devante Smith-Pelly, and Alexei Emelin on the shelf. The Canadiens recently called up forwards Sven Andrighetto and Bud Holloway from the AHL due to these injuries. Andrighetto played on Sunday, while Holloway may be inserted in to the lineup on Wednesday to compensate for Brendan Gallagher’s loss.
The Canadiens have been lucky to be receiving scoring depth from their third and fourth lines thus far this season. Head Coach, Michel Therrien, may lean on the bottom-six a little heavier with one of the team’s main offensive contributors out of the lineup. Therrien is going to have to decide whether or not to split up his third line, which consists of David Desharnais, Tomas Fleischmann and Dale Weise. The third line has been producing above expectations through a quarter of the season, and the coach may not want to mess with the chemistry that this line has developed.
Warning: Graphic images of the injury.
The Canadiens’ options from this point forward, include trusting Alexander Semin with first-line minutes, breaking up the successful third line, or allowing a call-up to assume a first line role along with Max Pacioretty and Tomas Plekanec.
Alexander Semin has been disappointing so far this season, though this could be the opening that a player with his skill-set needs. If Semin is put alongside Pacioretty and Plekanec, he could start producing more than he has thus far. This, however, is pretty unlikely. If the Canadiens’ break up their third line, Dale Weise would most likely join Pacioretty and Plekanec on the first line. Weise has 9 goals through 22 games this season. The three played together on a couple of occasions in the 2014-15 season, and were generally successful. Weise, however, is not necessarily suited to be a top-line winger. The Canadiens could also allow one of their call-ups to assume the top-line position. This would be a great opportunity for whomever is placed with Pacioretty and Plekanec, though knowing Therrien and the Canadiens management, they are more likely to trust a seasoned NHL veteran.
Replacing Brendan Gallagher won’t be easy, especially since the Canadiens are notoriously weak on the right-wing. The Habs will miss Brendan Gallagher’s offensive contribution, but they will also miss aspects of his game that aren’t recorded by statistics. Whenever watching a Canadiens game, everyone knows that Gallagher will end up in the opposing team’s net at some point. Brendan Gallagher leads by example on the ice, while he often changes the momentum of games with his work ethic and gritty net crashing. Gallagher plays with the most heart on the team, without a doubt, and filling the void created by his absence will be tough.
The bright side of things, is that Brendan Gallagher had successful surgery on Monday on his two fractured fingers. The expected timetable for a return from an injury of this sort is 4-6 weeks, though the recovery time varies depending on the person, and the rehabilitation process. If Brendan Gallagher’s on ice toughness reflects on his physical rehab speed, we could see him back on the ice before we know it.
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Taking all of this into consideration, Brendan Gallagher’s absence opens up an opportunity for players within the Canadiens’ organization to step up and contribute. Almost every NHL team has to play through injuries at some point in the season, and the Canadiens are going to try to prove that they can be successful without the help of one of their key members, Brendan Gallagher.