Brendan Gallagher has been named a finalist for the NHL rookie of the year. I personally haven't seen much of his work in Montreal, but I've been hearing how good he's been all year on various hockey shows.
I know that at my house, we still remember the performance that Gallagher put on in the 2010 playoffs. The chemistry he had with Craig Cunningham was pretty special.
As 'Hawks fans, we've seen Gallagher do some special things.
That profile clip brings us to the size issue. This player is 5'9" - and is thriving early on in his NHL career. This season we were fortunate enough to watch a player of the same size lead the league in scoring - which doesn't happen very often. When you consider that Petan is completing his 17 year old season, it only drives home the point of what a special player that Petan is.
So what do you do if you are an NHL scout? Do you see a player who is only 5'9", or a player who was +68? A guy who plays on the powerplay AND penalty kill, or a guy who is listed at 166 lbs? Leading your league is pretty hard to do in your draft year - but the highest draft speculation around Petan has him going late 1st round.
You would think that Gallagher coming out of the same league, and tearing it up in the NHL can only help Petan get more of a look from scouts. Playing in the WHL Final series helps a ton as well, and we can only hope to see how many scouts are in Saskatoon in a couple weeks.
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