In a shocking move considering the talk surrounding negotiations between the player and the team, the Montreal Canadiens have signed forward Brendan Gallagher to a six-year extension for big money. Gallagher will earn $6.5 million per season over the next six seasons.
The contract includes a modified no-trade and a full no-move clause throughout the deal. There are no signing bonuses and the entire extension is paid in salary. Here is the breakdown:
- Year 1: $5M
- Year 2: $6.5M
- Year 3: $8M
- Year 4: $9M
- Year 5: $6.5M
- Year 6: $4M
Needless to say, the halt in negotiations didn’t last long between the two sides and a deal is done. On Tuesday, Gallagher’s agent, Gerry Johansson, said negotiations between his client and the team had broken off.
Pierre LeBrun tweeted the following about the sudden shift in negotiations:
After the meltdown in talks yesterday morning, Gallagher’s camp and Habs circled back to each other last night and got back on track and get working at it today. Both sides admit there was a misunderstanding which agent Gerry Johansson and GM Marc Bergevin cleared up last night.
While Gallagher had another year on his current deal, there was potential risk in heading into the season without him extended. Gallagher had watched as right-wingers were signed in free agency and it appeared his position with the team was potentially in question. Had he stayed unsigned, it could have been a monumental distraction for the year.
And, considering the team said they wanted to be harder to play against, there was zero logic to the Canadiens letting Gallagher shake loose.
Still, it was hard to read between the lines on Bergevin’s comments and his offseason moves.
Canadiens Fans Will Be Relieved to Have Gallagher Back
Obviously, this will come as great news to Habs fans. Gallagher is the heart-and-soul of the team and has scored 30+ goals in two of the last three seasons. He tied for the team goal-scoring lead in ’19-’20 and he was a major reason the Canadiens were able to surprise the Pittsburgh Penguins in during the play-in round of this year’s postseason.
Next: Pietrangelo Talks How Close He Was To Signing With Maple Leafs
