Habs Practice Report

Habs Practice Report: Byron Set For 500, Gallagher On Rebuilding

Published

2 years ago

February 16, 2022

The Montreal Canadiens were back at it this morning, trying to find some silver lining in this horrific season as they prepare to take on the St. Louis Blues Thursday at the Bell Centre.

A lone press conference following this mornings’ skate by Brandon Gallagher gave great insight on plenty of Habs’ news.

Byron Set For NHL Game 500

Thursday will be Montreal Canadiens forward Paul Byron’s 500th career NHL game.

“Happy for Paul, that is a big milestone game. You know he worked so hard for that just to get his opportunity, and then when he came to us, you know he had to impress, or he was on his way out of the league if you talk to him,” Gallagher said of his longtime teammate and friend. “He came in here with a mindset that he was going to earn a role with our group, you know he was able to work his way up, be a contributor. He is a guy that’s played on our first line, fourth line, hard penalty kill minutes, he is a guy you put on the ice at the end of a game, and he wears a letter for us…When you mention he is playing his 500th game; as a teammate and a friend, you’re just proud of him, and hopefully, he enjoys it.”

Gallagher Speaks On Rebuild

An optimistic Brandon Gallagher seemed excited to begin the process of rebuilding the Canadiens.

“We have a lot of good pieces here, it is not like there is nothing to build on, so you know hopefully it is something that does not take a lot of time and we can get back to winning hockey games pretty quickly,” the 29-year-old winger said. “Looking at the whole organization being on the same page.

Obviously, we are in a situation where, you know, players are going to be on their way out. How long it lasts and how long it takes, you know a lot of that is on players as well. Management will have a plan and an idea obviously that they are going to follow and we trust that as well.”

The Montreal Canadiens are the league’s worst team with just 23 points (8-33-7) but Gallagher still seems committed to the organization and wants to help turn things around.

“Whatever my teammates and coaching staff need of me, that is what I am willing to do here,” Gallagher said.

Gallagher is also impressed with the new interim head coach for the Montreal Canadiens, Martin St. Louis.

“He kind of understood what we were going through, what we needed,” Gallagher said. “The changes he has made have really worked; they have really helped our game…But, obviously, there is a lot of areas to continue to work on.”

Injury Updates

Mike Hoffman skated in the first part of the practice but left the ice before line drills.

Christian Dvorak did not practice Wednesday opting for a therapy day.

Practice Lines

Forwards:

Cole Caufield-Nick Suzuki-Josh Anderson

Rem Pitlick/Mathieu Perreault-Paul Byron-Jake Evans

Michael Pezzetta-Laurent Dauphin-Brendan Gallagher

Artturi Lehkonen-Ryan Poehling-Joel Armia/Cedric Paquette

Defense:

Brett Kulak-Jeff Petry

Alexander Romanov-Ben Chiarot