Montreal Canadiens 2021-22 Forward Ratings: Brendan Gallagher
Try as he might, the puck simply wouldn’t go in the net for Gallagher last season.
Much like the year that Max Pacioretty scored 30 goals and it was a “down year” (of course he later scored less and was traded), 2021-22 wasn’t a great points year for our favourite little pest. However, with a score of 69.6%, he ranks inside the top three on the team according to this model.
What I found more interesting than anything is that every single metric for Gallagher was good to great except his points. And, as you know, if you read the article explaining the model, that’s the most important part.
Gallagher had the second-best Corsi on the team, and third-best xGF% and GF%. All of this while having the sixth-highest D-zone faceoffs per 60.
Seeing it through this lens really sets my mind at ease in regard to the rumours of Gallagher’s demise. He’s still driving play, he’s still responsible defensively, the issue is that the team was not able to take advantage of that play-driving.
Marc Dumont refers to Gallagher as a “cheat code” for coaches. Well, I played a lot of Doom growing up and let me tell you, even with all of the guns unlocked and full health (IDKFA), I still died constantly. My point? Even this amazing play-driving doesn’t guarantee success if he’s not surrounded with players who can take advantage. Or, at least, the same players more than one game in a row.
For more info on the model I used, check out the introduction to this series.
#3: Brendan Gallagher
#4: Christian Dvorak
#5 Nick Suzuki
#6: Tyler Toffoli
#7: Jonathan Drouin
#8: Cole Caufield
#9: Michael Pezzetta
#10: Josh Anderson
#11: Rem Pitlick
#12: Mike Hoffman
#13: Joel Armia
#14: Ryan Poehling
#15: Laurent Dauphin
#16: Paul Byron