The Montreal Canadiens have announced that forward Brendan Gallagher will play tonight, meaning he has been activated off of injured reserve.
Gallagher has been out for most of December with a lower-body injury. Partly due to his absence from their lineup, the Canadiens have struggled recently, winning just three of their last ten games.
Although Gallagher’s production isn’t what it once was (he scored just 24 points last season and has eight in 22 games this year) he remains an active producer of scoring chances and the analytics community has largely viewed his play quite positively.
One of the Canadiens’ most passionate leaders, Montreal will be hoping that Gallagher’s’ return to health can help their scoring attack. Backed by the league’s worst power play, the Canadiens have scored just four goals in their last three games.
Gallagher should be an improvement over some of the forwards the Canadiens have been playing. Now healthy and back in the lineup, Gallagher will hope to get back to the level of production he showed a few years ago, such as in 2019-20 when he scored at a 60-point pace.