Music: {allcanada} Lafleur: Gallagher should be Canadiens captain

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

{allcanada} Lafleur: Gallagher should be Canadiens captain

If Guy Lafleur had it his way, Brendan Gallagher would be the next player to wear the 'C' for the Montreal Canadiens.

"I like the way he [Gallagher] plays," Lafleur said after handing out the Guy Lafleur Awards of Excellence to the province's top amateur athletes Wednesday, via the Montreal Gazette. "He shows up every night and gives 100 per cent. I think he's a great influence on his teammates."

Lafleur, the franchises's all-time leading scorer, noted that there's a lot more to Gallagher's game than point totals.

"A captain shouldn't be chosen on the amount of goals he's going to score," Lafleur said. "That guy [Gallagher] really impressed me every night I saw him play. He's aggressive, he wants to win. He gets some bad shots from opponents, he takes a lot of hits and there's not too many guys on the team that work like he does."

The Canadiens did not name a captain for the 2014-15 season. Brian Gionta wore the 'C' for four seasons before heading to Buffalo last summer as a free agent. Andrei Markov, Max Pacioretty, Tomas Plekanec, and P.K. Subban served as alternate captains in 2014-15.

Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin was asked about naming a captain at his year-end press conference, but he made no commitment to bestowing the honour on anyone for next season.

"I've been a part of teams where the players chose the captain and they ended up choosing the wrong guy," said Bergevin on May 15. "I've also seen management choose the wrong guy."

Gallagher played in all 82 games last season and set career highs with 24 goals, 23 assists, and 47 points.