Brendan Gallagher is looking forward to getting some sleep.
The Canadiens flew to Edmonton Tuesday afternoon to start a nine-day road trip that will include games against the Oilers on Thursday (9 p.m., TSN2, RDS), the Calgary Flames on Saturday (7 p.m., SN, Citytv, TVA Sports), the Vancouver Canucks next Tuesday (10 p.m., TSN2, RDS) and the Seattle Kraken next Thursday (10:30 p.m., TSN2, RDS).
Gallagher hasn’t been getting much sleep recently because his wife, Emma Fortin, gave birth to their first child, a girl, last week.
“I am a dad now,” Gallagher said after the Canadiens beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 in overtime Monday night at the Bell Centre. “It’s been a week now. It’s new. It’s a little less sleep than I’m used to, but it’s been awesome. I’ve enjoyed it. Emma’s been awesome. We’re learning on the go here, but so far we love every second of it.”
While Gallagher is looking forward to getting more sleep on the road trip, he added it’s difficult to leave his wife and new baby for such an extended period.
“It’s hard to leave,” he said. “It’s hard to describe. But I’ve enjoyed every second of it. It’s been great.”
Gallagher and his wife, who is from Ste-Julie, were married last July. They met shortly after the Canadiens lost the Stanley Cup final to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021. Fortin has been working on her PhD in management and strategy at HEC Montréal.
“She’s very ambitious,” Gallagher said last year on the Canadiens website. “She works incredibly hard. She’s doing her PhD right now and it’s been fun supporting her with that. She’s ambitious. She’s passionate and brings the best out of me.”
Gallagher’s teammate and close friend Jake Evans will also be sleeping much better on this road trip after signing a four-year contract extension on Tuesday with an annual salary-cap hit of US$2.85 million that will run through the 2028-29 season.
The 28-year-old centre, who is earning US$1.7 million this season in the final year of a three-year contract, has 12-16-28 totals in 61 games. He could have become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
“We have conversations all the time,” Gallagher said Monday night about Evans, who also got married last summer. “Jakey’s a big part of our group. He does so much for us. He’s done everything he could. He’s controlled what he could control and played good hockey. Obviously, he’s a big part of this team. We need him. You just let the situation unfold as it does.
“You want him to be happy, want him to be settled for the future and, obviously, you want him to be here,” Gallagher added.
Evans is only one point shy of his career high in points, when he posted 13-16-29 totals in 2021-22. But his offensive production has dropped off recently with only one goal and two assists in the last 14 games.
Evans and his wife — Emily Flatley, who is the daughter of former NHL player Patrick Flatley — went to the Bahamas during the 4 Nations Face-Off break in the schedule to get away from hockey and all the talk about his contract.
“We always chat about things and our future and, obviously, we just want stability and find a place that we can call home,” Evans said before the break. “It’s been an ongoing process and we’ve been chatting a lot about what we want and we just want some stability, I guess.”
The Canadiens didn’t make Evans available to the media on Monday or after Tuesday’s practice in Brossard before the team flew to Edmonton and his new contract was announced.
The Canadiens moved within one point of a wild-card playoff spot with their fifth consecutive victory Monday night. Forwards Joel Armia, Christian Dvorak and defenceman David Savard can become unrestricted free agents on July 1 and Canadiens GM Kent Hughes will have to decide whether it’s worth keeping them or trying to trade them before Friday’s deadline.
The Canadiens are making things tough for Hughes by continuing to win games and putting themselves in legitimate contention for a playoff spot. Heading into this season, management’s goal was to be in the mix for a playoff spot in Year 3 of the rebuilding process and now the Canadiens are.
“Kent will tell you he’s happy,” Gallagher said. “Nobody wants to be sellers (at the trade deadline). Everyone wants to be contending and in it. Obviously, there’s a lot of teams (battling for a wild-card spot). It’s not going to be easy, but we believe in here and we’re definitely capable. What are we, one point back? We play good hockey, we take care of our own business, we believe that at the end of the year we’ll be where we want to be.
“We feel pretty good with where we’re at,” Gallagher added. “It’s fun to be playing meaningful games at this time of the year. At the golf tournament (in September), you guys all asked us, this is where we wanted to be. We’re going to enjoy it, we’re going to thrive under it. Yeah, it’s exciting.”