Canadiens veteran Brendan Gallagher delivered a powerful message to young prospects who attended the team’s development camp in July.
“If you look around, there’s 20 or 30 of you,” Gallagher said in a locker room at Brossard’s CN Sports Complex during a speech that was videotaped by the Canadiens. “Realistically, two or three are going to make the team at some point.”
Gallagher added it should be a fun and exciting time for the young players and they should celebrate where they’re at in their careers.
“It should be encouraging to know you’re so close to reaching your goal of playing in the National Hockey League,” Gallagher said. “You need to take advantage of it. This is such a pinnacle time in your careers where if you don’t, other players are going to be working hard, they’re going to pass you. If you do, you have an opportunity to live your dream.”
Gallagher beat the odds as a 5-foot-9 winger selected in the fifth round (147th overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft and is heading into his 13th season with the Canadiens.
The odds are better for Owen Beck making the NHL after the 6-foot, 194-pound centre was selected by the Canadiens in the second round (33rd overall) of the 2022 NHL Draft. But Gallagher’s speech had an impact on the 20-year-old Beck.
Of the 14 forwards invited to the Canadiens’ rookie camp, Beck is probably the closest to earning a spot in the NHL. The rookie camp wrapped up Sunday when the Canadiens lost 5-4 to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a Prospect Showdown game at the Bell Centre. Emil Heineman, Jared Davidson, Tyler Thorpe and Logan Mailloux scored for the Canadiens in front of a sellout crowd.
After Sunday’s game, Beck said Gallagher’s speech highlighted not just how competitive it is to earn a spot in the NHL, but also how hard it is to keep the job.
“He’s a guy who’s maybe coming closer to the end of his career, but he’s going to fight for every year, every game he has left to hold on to his spot and he expressed that to us,” Beck said about the 32-year-old Gallagher, who has three seasons remaining on his contract. “I think it touched all of us. I think it’s not something you necessarily realize when you’re just trying to get into the league because you’re so focused on getting in. But there’s other guys that are already there that are trying desperately not to get out.
The Canadiens have accumulated a quality group of young prospects during this rebuilding process, but the reality is only a few of them will make it in the NHL. Lane Hutson showed during the two Prospect Showdown games on the weekend — including a 4-3 shootout loss to the Maple Leafs on Saturday — that he’s the young defenceman closest to making the Canadiens, followed by Logan Mailloux, who was his partner on the blue line for the two games.
Pascal Vincent, the new head coach of the AHL’s Laval Rocket who was behind the Canadiens bench for both weekend games, was very impressed by Beck.
“First of all, I got the results from the (fitness) testing,” Vincent said after Sunday’s game when asked about Beck. “He’s way up there. His conditioning is off the chart. I think with his smarts, I think with his ability to skate — I think he can play centre or wing, I think he would have the ability to play at both positions. I think he’s in a good position right now. But he’s done the work. He’s in really good shape physically. Mentally he’s involved, he’s asking questions, he’s vocal. So I think he’s got a lot of things going on for him.”
There might not be a spot for Beck to start this year with the Canadiens after he was named the Memorial Cup MVP last season, leading the Saginaw Spirit to the junior championship. But Canadiens centres Christian Dvorak and Jake Evans, along with wingers Joel Armia and Michael Pezzetta, are all heading into the final season of their contracts and can become unrestricted free agents.
Beck is aware of that.
“It’s hard not to (to be aware), but I’m just focused on right now,” Beck said. “There’s opportunity if you make opportunity for yourself. I think if I just kind of focus on my game and do what I do best, I think things could open up.
“Obviously, you’ve got to steal somebody’s job eventually,” Beck added. “Things don’t necessarily just open up. I think my goal for this camp is just to focus on myself, focus on what I’m doing, feel good about my game. I think a year ago, I was maybe looking too far ahead and wasn’t necessarily focused on the important thing, which is myself. I think my mindset’s kind of changed. That doesn’t mean I’ve lost any motivation or anything, it’s just that my focus has shifted a little bit.”
Gallagher’s speech helped put Beck’s NHL dream into focus.