Quotes of the day: Gallagher & Bergevin

MONTREAL - A day after inking a six-year contract extension with the Canadiens, forward Brendan Gallagher met with the media via Zoom to discuss his new deal on Thursday. General manager Marc Bergevin also fielded questions from the media about the new agreement.
Read on for highlights of what they had to say:

Bergevin, getting emotional several times throughout the call when talking about the Habs' sparkplug, on the impact Gallagher has had on the Canadiens:
"He means a lot to our hockey team. Since day one when I became a general manager, he's been on our team. You saw in the playoffs: he got cross-checked in the face, and he wouldn't want to miss a shift. He didn't want to leave. In the past I've seen guys who get slashed, they get a fingernail missing and they're finding a way not to play. Gallagher is everything you want in a hockey player, and that's what I love about him."

The Habs GM on his favorite trait about Gallagher:
"His character. There's high maintenance, there's middle maintenance, there's low maintenance and there's no maintenance. And that's Brendan Gallagher. He just loves... he's a hockey player through his bones. And that's what I love about him."

For his part, Gallagher outlined the work that Bergevin has done this offseason and affirmed that it was a factor in deciding to commit to the Canadiens on a long-term basis:
"Honestly, it's unbelievable to see the additions we've been able to make. I could go through the list. It started with [Joel] Edmundson. He's going to be someone on our backend who just adds to that tough-to-play against mentality. When you're looking at our D now, I don't think there's going to be a single forward group in the in the League that's excited to come and play our team. Then he goes and gets Josh Anderson - physical, with scoring talent. That's something that's hard to come by. He's a rare breed in the League, a physical power forward with size who can do it all, and he can also put the puck in the net. You add a player like that, I think every team in the League would be happy to have him. I forgot about [Jake] Allen. We know how good Pricey [Carey Price] is; he's the best goaltender in the world when he's refreshed, healthy, and has that energy. We have an opportunity now to play a goalie who can start for us 20-plus times. We're confident in him, he's going to get the job done, and then that's going to make Pricey that much better - which is obviously scary. And then just a few days ago, we add [Tyler] Toffoli, a guy who's pretty much scored everywhere he's been his entire life. He's the same age group as me, so I know him a little bit, I've played against him. We actually played on the same team in a couple of summer hockey tournaments in Montreal, strangely enough. His entire life he's put the puck in the net, he's found ways to score. He was on a Stanley Cup-winning team. He's a guy who's going to bring that experience. Every one of them is going to play a key role on our team. To be able to add that many pieces, it's pretty exciting. So when I'm sitting there and you're thinking about where you want to be and you add those pieces on top of what we had as a group and what we were building... You talk about the young centermen coming up. It's pretty exciting right now for anyone around the Montreal Canadiens organization."

Standing at 5-foot-9, Gallagher on how he reacts to people who questioned his ability to make the NHL and succeed there:
"Everyone gets motivated by different things. I'm going to correct you a little bit: I don't prove people wrong; I always try to prove people right. I like to give credit to the many people who believed in me along the way. No matter what you go through, everyone is going to have people doubt them. But you get to where you are because of the people who believed in you and put in a lot of time and effort around you. For me, I've had a ton of people - going back to the teammates and coaches from my minor hockey days to my Junior days, and obviously here in Montreal - the way they've treated me. These are the people who have given me a chance and believed me. And right now, with Berge and Geoff Molson] giving me this contract, it's another case of, of people instilling confidence in me. Those are the people who motivate me to put in the work to prove them right, rather than the people who are against you or naysayers. Negative energy has never been something that's really fueled me all that much."
**[SHOP: Brendan Gallagher T-Shirt
Born in Edmonton and raised in British Columbia, Gallagher has been embraced by hockey fans in La Belle Province and is touched by the sentiment:**
"It means everything. Coming out here, I really had no expectations. I was just trying to be a hockey player and to be a part of a winning team. That's really your only goal. You first want to make the team and then you want to be a player the organization respects. The way the fans have embraced me... There are so many Habs fans outside of Quebec, but when you're dealing with strictly Quebec: everywhere I've been and everywhere my family's been, they've been nothing but respectful to us. That's something that doesn't go unnoticed. I really do love that city and I love the people, I love the fans. I'm very happy I get to be a part of that for another seven years."