Montreal Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher has a smirk that’s driving teams double-extra mental.Graham Hughes
We're talking about someone who has repeatedly been punched, poleaxed and threatened credibly with decapitation and dismemberment.
It's the lot in life of people who risk neck and limb to park themselves directly in front of an opposing NHL net.
Those who do this consistently comprise a smallish sub-set of NHL players. But the guys who do it with a cheese-eating grin that drives the other team double-extra mental?
There's really only one: Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal Canadiens.
"When you're trying to piss guys off and you take a chop at them, or chirp at them, you're trying to get under their skin," teammate Dale Weise said. "When a guy just smiles at you, you know you've failed. And nobody likes failure."
A large number of folks have vowed to slap, wipe or otherwise take Gallagher's maddening smile off his face. Not all of these people are sworn enemies.
Habs goalie Carey Price has admitted, half-jokingly, to fleeting thoughts of violence when confronted with that irritating smirk at close quarters in practice; last year Buffalo Sabres defenceman Josh Gorges, a former Hab whose house Gallagher lived in during his first two pro seasons, took a spirited postwhistle poke at his former lodger.
Anyway, few have actually succeeded. We can confirm it does happen.
"I've always been a pretty happy kid … but my family's seen lots of times when I wasn't smiling very much," the 23-year-old right winger chuckled.
Does he recall the first time someone promised to erase his default facial expression by force? He does not.
"I don't think I can remember that far," he smiled.
Now, it's easy to think that Gallagher is a happy-to-here, say-hey sort of guy. That's part of who he is, but his favourite player growing up was another vertically-challenged guy: the recently retired Martin St. Louis.
"What I always loved about him was the way he competed every single night," said Gallagher, who got to play against his hero in the 2010 Eastern Conference Final.
And so Gallagher competes. Doggedly. With that stupid smile hanging on his face (that said, few players appeared to take the Habs' second-round playoff exit against Tampa last year more personally).
There is no more courageous and indefatigable player on the Habs, which is why he's wearing an alternate captain's "A" on his jersey this year and playing on the top line.
Not a bad return for a fifth-round draft pick.
If Price is the chassis on which the Habs are built, captain Max Pacioretty the leading offensive light, and defenceman P.K. Subban the crowd-pleasing game-breaker, Gallagher is the grunt in the engine room wearing smudged coveralls.
The Canadiens have high ambitions this season as their core of elite players – Price, Subban and Pacioretty – play into their prime years.
Their play will go a long way to determining how far the club goes, but, as the season begins, it's the emergence of the next wave of core-like talent – Gallagher, Alex Galchenyuk, Nathan Beaulieu – that bears watching.
Gallagher scored 24 goals in 2014-15, a total that in Pacioretty's opinion doesn't come close to summarizing what he brings to the lineup.
"I don't think his contribution can even really be measured, he gives so much to the team, to his linemates. He never gives up, he's out there digging pucks out of the corner and opening lanes, he does a ton of the stuff you have to do to win," said Pacioretty, who said a season of 30-plus goals "is definitely not out of the question" for Gallagher, who isn't a prototypical first-line player in the way teammate Alex Semin, say, might be.
But with Semin playing to the right of Galchenyuk – the 21-year-old American broke the 20-goal plateau last year on left wing and will be playing centre to open the season – the hope is the Habs will have a more balanced scoring attack.
The lineup shuffle has moved Pacioretty's long-time centre to the third line, where he will have the occasion to feast on inferior match-ups; "I think it can be good for both of us," Pacioretty said.
It's early, so optimism reigns.
But Gallagher will tell you there's always something to smile about.