After suffering a concussion during a New Year’s Eve game in Carolina, the Canadiens’ Brendan Gallagher received a text message the next day from former teammate Andrew Shaw.
“He’s someone who dealt with (concussions) and he told me not to be stupid, not to come back early,” Gallagher said after practising with his teammates Tuesday morning in Brossard. “I told him I wouldn’t. And then he texted me after the first time and he called me an idiot.
“So, it’s good to see that he hasn’t changed,” Gallagher added with a chuckle.
Shaw and Gallagher both have good senses of humour, but concussions are no laughing matter and they know that. One of the reasons the Canadiens traded Shaw to Chicago last summer was his history of concussions and he suffered another one this season. Shaw hasn’t played since Nov. 30 and the Blackhawks have placed him on long-term injured reserve. Last season, Shaw said he didn’t know how many concussions he had suffered during his hockey career, but figured he had three or four in the NHL.
Gallagher said his latest concussion was his third, after having one in junior and one during his rookie season with the Canadiens. Gallagher missed four games after being concussed in Carolina, returned to play one game against the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 9 at the Bell Centre and then started suffering headaches. Gallagher has now missed the last five games, but is hoping to play Thursday against the Sabres in Buffalo (7 p.m., TSN2, RDS, TSN 690 Radio, 98.5 FM) with his headaches gone and after being cleared for contact before Tuesday’s practice. Jonathan Drouin, who hasn’t played since having wrist surgery on Nov. 18, was also cleared for contact at Tuesday’s practice and could possibly return to action Thursday.
Gallagher was asked after practice if he had returned too soon after his concussion.
“I’d like to talk about that for a bit,” he said. “In no way do I put any blame on anyone. It’s one of those things where everyone followed the proper protocol. I went through the NHL concussion program, I did everything I needed to do. There’s just no test for a game-like atmosphere and you don’t know really what triggered (the headaches). Obviously, you don’t really get your heart rate up to what it’s like in a game. There’s a lot of noise, there’s a lot of light, there’s a lot of emotion and adrenalin going through your body and these things can trigger it. You can’t really test that until you play a game.
“I went through the proper steps,” Gallagher added. “(The medical staff) did everything they needed to do to clear me. I passed those tests … I passed my concussion test. Everything was fine and then you deal with these things. I took it in stride. Every concussion’s a little bit different. I think mine was probably pretty unique. But I’m happy to hopefully put it behind me now.
“There’s nothing I would do differently because I felt I was ready to play and I felt I was ready to go out and try and help the team win a game. These things only happened after the game.”
Gallagher said he didn’t have any headaches after suffering the concussion in Carolina when he was checked hard by the Hurricanes’ Jordan Staal and while falling down was accidentally kneed in the head by teammate Ben Chiarot before hitting the back of his head on the ice. Gallagher did have some memory loss and didn’t remember much about that day in Carolina.
“But I woke up the next morning and really felt good,” he said. “The symptoms didn’t really come until I played this game (against the Oilers) and then there were headaches.”
Gallagher wore a tinted visor when he played against the Oilers and he still had it on for practice Tuesday.
“I’ve had a couple of concussions before and I think since the first one I kind of noticed I was pretty sensitive to light,” he explained. “Each concussion, normally or naturally it’s just kind of always been there. That was something I told the trainers, so the tinted visor just kind of takes care of that. It sounds weird, but it does make a little bit of a difference. It’s probably something I’ll keep on for a bit.”
Gallagher had played in 229 consecutive games, dating back to Feb. 11, 2017, before suffering his concussion. He is proud of the fact he was able to play the full 82-game schedule in each of the last two seasons with his gritty style and refusal to back down from anyone or anything while surpassing the 30-goal mark both years. He’s a warrior who was on pace for another 30-goal season before his concussion and he wants to play.
But with the Canadiens having a 22-22-7 record and their playoff hopes all but gone, Gallagher would be wise to listen to Shaw’s earlier advice: Don’t be stupid and come back too early.
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