'He's still like a little brother to me'

MONTREAL - Josh Gorges and prospect Jake Evans sat down for a chat over a cup of coffee in late February at the Bell Centre.

It was during that discussion that Evans revealed his genuine admiration for veteran forward and alternate captain Brendan Gallagher - someone Gorges knows exceptionally well.

Gallagher, 27, lived with Gorges and his wife, Maggie, on the South Shore during the first two seasons of his NHL career.

Listening to Evans talk about his former housemate took Gorges - now a 35-year-old father of two residing in his hometown of Kelowna, BC - back in time to when they were teammates.

"It's almost surreal sitting here having this conversation with you about him. He's been in the League so long and someone you look up to, and I get it. He's an absolute guy that players coming in should look at and say, 'This is how you do it,'" said Gorges, who most recently visited Montreal in conjunction with the annual Canadiens Fantasy Camp. "It's funny, because when he came in, I was the older guy. And to think that he's grown into that position, I still kind of snicker at it because in my eyes he's still like a little brother to me that hasn't quite matured there yet."

Gallagher has matured, of course, to the tune of being regarded as one of the hardest working and gutsiest players in the League year after year.

And his numbers speak for themselves, too, with back-to-back 30-goal campaigns on his resume in 2017-18 and 2018-19, and three 20-plus goal seasons in a row, including this one.

But Gorges will always have a soft spot for the Gallagher that cracked the big club's roster out of training camp seven-plus years ago.

"He was green, he was raw, but he was just the best guy to be around. When I first told my wife, I said 'We're going to have a kid that's going to make the team, he's going to come live with us.' I'd already told the coach it was o.k., so my wife didn't really have a choice at this point," cracked Gorges. "I don't know how she really felt at the time. She always supports me, so she said 'O.k., we'll see how it works.' And he just fit right in. He just felt like a part of the family."

Even though the pair live 4,200 km apart for the majority of the year, that "family" bond remains as tight as ever to this very day.

There's constant contact, in good times and bad.

"My wife still talks to him all the time. We still keep in touch with him. I still text him after games if I see him being like, 'What are you doing? Why would you do that? Why are you taking an extra 30 seconds on the ice? Get off, I told you that before.' We still talk about stuff like that," mentioned Gorges. "So it's funny to think now that he's the guy that you'll probably have that relationship with."

Gorges told Evans about just how important being mentored by a seasoned vet was for him when he arrived in San Jose in 2005-06.

So doing the same for a youngster at some point down the road was always on Gorges' radar, and Gallagher was the lucky pupil.

"I tell this story all the time. I had a guy, Scott Hannan, when I was a rookie that took me in and just kind of shows you the ropes - how to act, how to prepare, how to keep your mouth shut in the dressing room when you're a young guy. Things like that he taught me that I think I carried a long way, and how important that is as a veteran to do that for a young guy," explained Gorges. "Soon, you'll be doing that in the NHL. There'll be young guys coming up and you'll remember 'Oh yeah, Gally brought me in and made it easy on me and made my life easy and I could settle into my career.' It's almost like a pay-it-forward type thing. 'It's my job now to do it for the next crop.'"

According to the 13-year NHL veteran, taking newcomers under your wing is nothing short of priceless.

"I think those are the types of things that almost get forgotten and lost in how important that is to a team having success, is guys that understand that, know that it's not just about themselves," stressed Gorges. "It's about helping a new guy out or a young guy that comes up, making him feel comfortable."

And if a couple of teammates manage to get as close as Gorges and Gallagher did, maybe they'll eventually have their own "Jerry Rice" stories to share someday.

Apparently, that was Gorges' nickname around the house…

"We always used to joke around all the time, when I was much younger, I was probably about 28, about playing other sports," explained Gorges. "That if you gave me a certain amount of time, I said I could make different leagues or play certain sports, and he'd always laugh and be like, 'You're too slow, you're too old, your knees don't work.' And I brought up the example, 'Well, look at Jerry Rice. He wasn't the fastest, he wasn't the biggest.' He goes, 'You're comparing yourself to Jerry Rice?' I was like, 'No, I'm not comparing myself to Jerry Rice.' So now anytime we talk about other sports or playing, he's like 'O.k., Jerry Rice! O.k., Jerry Rice!' So that's where that story came from."

That's the type of insider information we thoroughly enjoy.