Report: Brendan Gallagher likely first out the door in Canadiens' rebuild

Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson absolutely cleaned house this past weekend, parting ways with GM Marc Bergevin, Assistant GM Scott Mellanby and co-Assistant GM Trevor Timmins. Molson then wasted no time in bringing in a new voice hiring former New York Rangers GM Jeff Gorton as the team's new Executive Vice President.

It's expected that the English-only speaking Gorton will act as the team's de-facto GM until he and Molson make a hiring for the position. At that point Gorton and the team's new GM will work together when it comes to making hockey operations decisions. In other words, Gorton and his future hire will work together to manage the team's roster. It's also believed that, because Gorton is non-French speaking, that the new GM will be French speaking and/or bilingual.

Until the new GM is brought aboard though, all we can do is speculate as to what the team might do next. But, from everyone on the outside it's clear that a rebuild should be on the menu. Longtime Canadiens leader Shea Weber's career looks to be over and starting goaltender Carey Price simply isn't the player he used to be. Veterans like Brendan Gallagher, Tyler Toffoli, Jonathan Drouin, Jeff Petry and Ben Chiarot could all fetch a decent return on the trade market, as well.

Of that group, looks for Gallagher to be the first moved in a rebuilding trade.

In a thoughtful answer to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, Gallagher explains that he's open to being traded if the new management team decides to overhaul their roster.

“This is my 10th season now, and I’ve always come in with the expectation to win,” Gallagher said. “I feel like my teammates had the same goal, I felt like management had the same goal, and sometimes organizations go through those things. I guess those are conversations that would probably need to be had down the road, but for me, I play this game to win. That’s the only way I can enjoy it. You don’t always need to win every game, but you need to feel like we’re trying to win, you need to feel like it’s important.

“If that’s a decision they want to make, those are conversations you probably need to have going forward, but for now, that’s not something I’ve put a lot of thought in. I still feel like this is an organization that I love dearly, and that’s probably not being strong enough with it. I love this city, I love everything about it. I haven’t thought about it until you asked the question, but it would definitely be a tough decision, and like I said, conversations that you’d have to have, but I love being here and that’s first and foremost.”

- Brendan Gallagher

For what it's worth, the 29 year old forward is in the first year of a six year deal that pays him $6.5 million.