The Montreal Canadiens have announced that they have re-signed forward Brendan Gallagher to a six-year, $39 million contract extension. The deal carries him through the 2026-27 season. Gallagher was set to become an unrestricted free agent at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season.
Canadiens Extend Brendan Gallagher
Despite the recent rumours about contract talks breaking off with Gallagher, Bergevin was able to long the longtime Hab up longterm. The deal will carry an average annual value of $6.5 million.
In 59 games last season, Gallagher scored 22 goals and added 21 assists for 43 points. He also registered one goal and three assists in the postseason, which was cut short after suffering a fractured jaw from a crosscheck from former Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Matt Niskanen.
Over his career, Gallagher has scored 173 goals and 161 assists for 334 points in 547 games.
Gallagher was originally drafted by the Canadiens in the fifth round, 147th overall in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
What This Means for the Future
After focusing on improving his team for next season, locking up Gallagher was the most important thing on Marc Bergevin‘s agenda. Geoff Molson had given Bergevin the green light to get Gallagher locked up long term as he knows he is the engine that drives the Canadiens. Gallagher is a proven 30 goal scorer after hitting the 30 goal plateau in back to back seasons from 2017 to 2019. He then registered 22 this past season in just 59 games. He likely would have hit 30 against or at least got extremely close had he played 82 games. Gallagher is part of one of the most productive lines in hockey next to Phillip Danault and Tomas Tatar. The trio would look to continue that offence into next season.
Bergevin has been busy this offseason. Now that the work is done to improve the team for next season, he has already shifted focus on next year’s UFA’s. He has locked up Jeff Petry, as well as Jake Allen and now Gallagher. There’s still work to do, however, with Danault, Tatar, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Artturi Lehkonen, Joel Armia and Victor Mete still set to become free agents at the end of the 2020-21 season. There will certainly be some changes to the roster again next season. However, Bergevin has made sure he was able to keep the heart and soul of his club around for the foreseeable future.
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