Brendan Gallagher could be heading to Vancouver, but as of Wednesday the Canucks haven't made it worth Montreal's while.
Pierre LeBrun confirmed on June 17 that talks between the two teams have taken place, but flagged a clear sticking point: the sweetener isn't there yet.
That one word, sweetener, is doing a lot of work right now.
It means the Canucks have expressed interest. It means the Canadiens are listening. And it means Kent Hughes isn't just giving away a 34-year-old winger on a $6.5 million cap hit because Vancouver asked nicely.
Gallagher finished the regular season with 7 goals and 23 points over 77 games this year, a far cry from the 30-goal version that made him one of the most useful irritants in the Eastern Conference for years.
He's even on the plus-minus, which is something. But on a team that posted 106 points and went deep in the playoffs, the role in Montreal has quietly shrunk.
Still, his name carries weight and his game still carries purpose. In his last five games this season he scored twice without an assist, pure gritty production from net-front chaos.
Can a 32nd-place Canucks team afford to wait on this deal?
Vancouver finished dead last in the NHL, 32nd overall with a -100 goal differential and just 58 points.
That's a historically bad season by any measure. Manny Malhotra is now trying to rebuild the culture from the bench, and the front office knows it needs bodies who've won before.
Gallagher fits that profile. Locker room voice. Playoff experience. The kind of forward who makes a young team believe it's allowed to compete hard.
The problem is the price. Montreal has real leverage here because they don't need to move him.
Think of it like a used car negotiation where the seller drives a perfectly good car and doesn't actually need your money. The Canucks need the car. That changes everything.
Edmonton's GM Stan Bowman was reportedly in the mix on the same June 17 Oilers Now segment according to LeBrun, meaning Vancouver may not be the only team circling.
-
The Oilers finished 41-30-11 this season and know what a finishing forward on the cheap can do for a postseason run.
If Edmonton enters the bidding seriously, Hughes suddenly has competition, and the sweetener question answers itself.
The Canucks have to decide soon whether they're building around hunger or experience. Gallagher is the latter, and right now they can't quite afford to acquire him on anything resembling their own terms.
Should the Canucks give up the sweetener to land Brendan Gallagher?
Also read on Markerzone.com:
Oilers sign goaltender in move that raises new questions
