Brendan Gallagher’s days with the Montreal Canadiens appear to be at an end, at least according to Gallagher himself. At the Canadiens’ end-of-season media availability earlier in the week, an emotional Gallagher told reporters that “it’s pretty clear I’ll be moving on.” This comes on the heels of the 34-year-old winger being made a healthy scratch for 16 of Montreal’s 19 playoff games this postseason.

But Gallagher did not appear to be talking about retirement. He’s still got one year left on his contract, and he’s already talking potential next destinations, including one in particular. “I’ll sit down with my wife and figure out what’s best for our family and you go forward,” said Gallagher, “But certainly Vancouver would be a great place.”

Gallagher’s ties to Vancouver are numerous. Though born in Edmonton, he was raised in Tsawwassen and then spent four seasons with the Vancouver Giants, a team that also employed his father as a strength-and-conditioning coach for many years.

There’s always talk about bringing notable British Columbians back to the Canucks, but few have as many direct links to Vancouver hockey as does Gallagher.

But would bringing in Gallagher be the right move for these current Canucks? We think it could be, under the right circumstances, and we also believe those circumstances are likely to play out in this ongoing 2026 offseason.

It’s no real mystery why Gallagher and the Canadiens are parting ways. He’s still a beloved and respected leader and heart-and-soul individual for the Habs. But they’re now in the midst of their own competitive window, and Gallagher’s $6.5 million cap hit no longer fits with their financial picture. It’s a salary that Gallagher has always struggled to earn on his production alone, and now that he’s down to a rate of just seven goals and 23 points in 77 games this past regular season – and now that he’s a regular healthy scratch – it’s become a downright onerous contract.

And the Canadiens need that money freed up for other purposes. They’ve got about $11 million in cap space heading into 2026-27, and with about 20 players signed for their NHL roster. They could probably get by as is, but that wouldn’t leave them much room for any additions or notable upgrades. But after tasting the third round already this season, the Canadiens will be hungry to take the next step. That means carving out enough room for those additions and upgrades, and that means parting ways with their most obvious cap casualty in Gallagher.

Gallagher does have a no-movement clause, which prevents his being waived and/or demoted to the minors without his consent. But he does not have a full no-trade clause. Instead, he’s got a very limited six-team NTC. And, as we’ve heard, one of the teams he would consider accepting a trade to at this point is the Vancouver Canucks.

Now, we know what some of you might be thinking. “An overpriced cap dump veteran winger from a fellow Canadian franchise? Didn’t we try this with Evander Kane last year, and didn’t it go terribly?”

That’s true to a certain extent, but then Gallagher is a very different player and individual than Kane, and we think a Gallagher acquisition has the chance to turn out a lot better. A lot better, and perhaps a lot more profitable, too.

This would be the “Gallagher Plan,” as we see it:

First, the Canucks would have to trade another veteran winger. Bringing in Gallagher can’t come at the cost of another roster spot that could instead be going to a younger player. Gallagher makes sense as a replacement veteran, more so than an additional one. Chances are, this veteran trade involves Jake DeBrusk, but someone has to go.

Assuming it is DeBrusk, you’ve got your first bit of profit in this sequence of events. DeBrusk gets traded for, say, a couple of second-round picks, and the Canucks are a few assets richer.

The second bit of profit could come from the Gallagher acquisition itself. As we said, the Canadiens are fairly eager to cut cap. We also imagine they’re eager to do right by Gallagher, someone who has put in 14 good seasons with the franchise. If he wants to go to Vancouver, specifically, Montreal will want to make that happen.

The Habs are fairly flush with picks and prospects, even now that they’ve begun to compete. It shouldn’t be too much of an ask for them to pay Vancouver a token price for taking on Gallagher as a cap dump. That price might only be a third round pick or something like that, but that’s still an additional asset for the Canucks’ collection.

Then comes what we’ll term the ‘developmental profit.’ By all accounts, Gallagher has had a tremendously positive impact on the new Canadiens core, both as an on-ice drag-em-into-the-fight-type leader and off the ice as a patient mentor. That’s something that the Canucks’ own current crop of youngsters could benefit from. They’re also traits that Kane just didn’t bring to the table, another reason to believe a Gallagher acquisition would go differently.

Gallagher and Kane also differ in their leaguewide reputation. We’ve seen what the rest of the league thought of Kane via this most recent Trade Deadline. But Gallagher, despite his decade-plus as a renowned agitator, has plenty of respect around the NHL. And that could lead to a fourth and final bit of profit for the Canucks.

His contract expires after this year, which means he will enter the 2026-27 season as a pending UFA. That could allow the Canucks to sell Gallagher off for a playoff run with a contender at or near the 2027 Trade Deadline. And if they’re willing to use some retention on him at that point, they could get something actually significant back for him. Presumably, Gallagher would have been fed some of, say, DeBrusk’s minutes in the interim, including on the power play, and might have juiced his statistics up some. A rental warrior who can play in all situations and on special teams could be a hot ticket at deadline time, and at the very least, should be a hotter ticket than was Kane. Gallagher’s six-team NTC shouldn’t be much of an obstacle, especially not with this latest move being for only a matter of months.

So, just to sum up the whole sequence we’re envisioning here:

– First, the Canucks trade a veteran winger, bringing back future assets (Profit #1).

– Then, they get a small sweetener back from the Canadiens for taking on Gallagher (Profit #2).

– Then, the Canucks benefit from having Gallagher around for most of the season as a mentor and on-ice good example (Profit #3).

– Then, the Canucks sell Gallagher to a playoff contender at the 2027 Trade Deadline for more future assets (Profit #4).

We realize that’s all a lot easier said than done. But it’s also the exact sort of efficient asset management that a team like the Canucks – attempting to begin a rebuild while still relatively asset-poor – need to be employing. Moves like this are part of how the Canadiens got their own rebuild up off the ground so quickly, and there’s no better time for the Canucks to start making similar moves than now.

The Gallagher opportunity seems almost custom-made for their current needs, and the Canucks should not pass it up. It sounds like something that would work out in their favour, in the Canadiens’ favour, and in Gallagher’s favour, too. It’s a win-win-win scenario, but one in which the Canucks would be profiting the most, and a few times over.

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