Canadiens: Just a Number?

Brendan Gallagher has spent his whole career with the Montreal Canadiens, he's endured injuries, bumps, and bruises and through it all he never complained. That's how he became known as the Canadiens' warrior. When he was injured against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, it was surprising to see he didn't bleed red, white and blue.

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When Gallagher played for the Vancouver Giants in the WHL, he wore number 11. When he played the first half of the 2012-2013 season in Hamilton with the Bulldogs (the Canadiens AHL affiliate back then), he wore number 17. When he headed to the Canadiens' main camp as a rookie, he was given number 73. For all he knew at that stage, Scott Gomez still wore number 11 for Montreal. However, the Canadiens were allowed to buy him out before the offseason as they wanted him to sit out the year which the NHLPA didn't agree with.

Related: Brendan Gallagher’s Momentous Upcoming Season

Still, Gallagher was a rookie, so he didn't ask for his old number back. Just a month later though, the Canadiens acquired Michael Ryder from the Dallas Stars. Ryder had worn number 73 for his whole career and the Canadiens rookie was more than happy to surrender the number and get his number 11 back.

Last Friday a Canadiens fan suggested on social media that Gallagher should surrender his number 11 to Ivan Demidov when the youngster comes over from Russia, needless to say the suggestion didn't go down very well on X.

This is not a case of first overall draft pick Juraj Slafkovsky being offered his number 20 by spare defenseman Chris Wideman. Gallagher has earned the right to wear his number 11 until he retires or is traded and that's how it should be.

He might not have been a superstar, but he wrote his name in the Canadiens record book nonetheless. He has played 722 games wearing the Sainte-Flanelle and is 22nd on the team's all-time goals scored list with 218. That's three goals behind Guy Carbonneau, seven behind Stephane Richer, eight behind Max Pacioretty and 15 behind Tomas Plekanec. While he has played more games to reach his total than some of the aforementioned players, both Plekanec and Carbonneau played more games than he did.

That won't be enough to get Gallagher to the rafters, but it was more than enough to elevate him to the rank of players who deserves not to have their numbers ripped off their back. His timing was all wrong to get the captain's C and he didn't pout about it, so Demidov can wait until the timing is right to get the number, they do say timing is everything. Eleven is not just a number, its part of this warrior's identity and you can't just take that away.

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