Quotes of the day: Gallagher, Petry & Julien

BROSSARD - The Canadiens practiced at the Bell Sports Complex on Monday.

Following the on-ice session, forward Brendan Gallagher, defenseman Jeff Petry and head coach Claude Julien met the media.
Here are a few highlights from their respective Zoom chats with reporters:
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Gallagher was asked to explain why he believes Petry continues to improve with every passing season, even in his early 30's:
I don't think you get to where he's at this late in his career without a little bit of everything. If you look at his career, he had a tough go in Edmonton. They didn't really quite realize what they had. He comes here, and I think it's just a fresh start for him. His confidence has always been a big thing for his game. When he's feeling good about himself, he's really an elite defenseman in the NHL. There aren't a lot of defensemen that can do what he does. He's getting those opportunities to learn from that experience and to grow as a player. He can't be one of the top premier defensemen in the world without being able to do a little bit of everything, and I think that's what he does for our group.

While Gallagher is a devout fan of the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals, he didn't shy away from talking about Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady after watching him win his seventh Super Bowl title. The Habs' alternate captain insists Brady can teach athletes lessons aplenty about achieving success:
If I could, I'd try and learn as much as I can. The thing that stands out is the guy just cares about winning. Everything he does, everything he says, everywhere he goes, it's just all about winning. I think the debate about whether he was the best to ever do it ended about two or three Super Bowls ago. Now he's just adding to it, and it's just a privilege to be able to watch him and you just try to enjoy it for probably the rest of his six or seven years that he has left. Why would he stop? He enjoys the game. He enjoys winning. He still looks like he's able to do it. I saw a quote that now he's finally having fun, so I hope he keeps playing. It's fun for us to watch.

For his part, Petry expanded upon the specific ingredients that have helped him become a more solid player offensively and defensively over the course of his career, which will soon reach the 700-games played mark:
There's always things that I've picked up from other players, from coaches. I feel like as a young guy, you get the puck and it's trying to make a play right away. As my career has gone on, just realizing that you have to make plays fast, but there are times where you have more time than you think with the puck. That's where I think the patience kind of comes in. I feel right now, with the way our team's been playing, it makes things a lot easier and makes things more predictable knowing where guys are going to be. When you have a team that's playing on top of their game, it makes it easier to make plays and contribute more on the offensive side.

Admittedly, a current and former teammate with Montreal have played key roles in Petry's evolution:
Webs and I constantly talk and I watch his game all the time, but if I had to think of somebody outside of our current roster right now, I think of a guy like Marky. Playing with him and seeing what he did with the puck, his eyes would be looking somewhere and he'd make a play to somebody he's not looking at. It was just little, minor movements with his hand on his stick to just create a lane or to get pucks to the net. That was one guy I watched since I got here and was able to play with him for three, four years.

Julien, meanwhile, provided a brief update on the health of right-winger Joel Armia, who was back on the ice alongside his teammates for the first time since sustaining a concussion on January 21 in Vancouver:
It's a good sign that he was able to practice with us this morning. He still doesn't have the green light to practice with contact, though. He'll have a neurological exam. We should know more about his status this afternoon.

The Canadiens' bench boss also gave a straightforward assessment of the team's performance in the two most recent outings against the Senators:
I didn't think we played our best games against Ottawa. I'd even say that our second game was worse. We have talent and depth, but if our work ethic and our combativeness aren't at a maximum, we're just like any other team. That's what we saw on Saturday. We were a very ordinary group.