Right off the bat, Montreal Canadiens forward Brandon Gignac has a headstart on Alex Belzile. Gignac scored his first career NHL goal at Age 26 against the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 13, 2024. It took Belzile an extra two years just to make his NHL debut, also with the Habs.
Belzile went on to play sporadically for the Canadiens from 2020-23, effectively serving as call-up fodder as they led the league in man-games lost in 2021-22 and 2022-23. The latter season, he played a career-high 31 games, scoring six goals and eight assists as a quasi-valuable bottom-six presence. The first of those six goals ended up his first-ever.
Gignac vs. Belzile
So, it’s safe to say Belzile has taken a longer route than most players who end up making the NHL, similar to Gignac. Unfortunately, Belzile’s career aspirations seem to have taken a step back since he signed with the New York Rangers as an unrestricted free agent last offseason. An established American Hockey Leaguer, Belzile leads the Hartford Wolf Pack in scoring (just like Gignac does the Laval Rocket) but has yet to play a game for the Rangers.
Belzile was recently called up. And you would have thought he would have gotten in against the Canadiens on Feb. 15, but no dice. However, Gignac, who has played in every Canadiens game since signing his latest NHL deal on Feb. 4, did. He also made his presence known by nearly scoring his second goal in as many games.
Gignac would have opened the scoring in the eventual 7-4 Canadiens loss, had he not first corralled the puck with a high stick, before banging it home mere minutes into the contest. No, the big star for the Canadiens on the night (in the admittedly embarrassing loss) was Cole Caufield, who scored two goals and an assist.
It’s worth noting, Gignac and Caufield are similarly undersized, but with vastly different career projections. Caufield, taken 15th overall in 2019, has made great strides to round out all aspects of his game despite his undeniable knack for scoring goals. Gignac has a lot more to work on as a player who was drafted 80th overall in 2016 by the New Jersey Devils and had only played a single NHL game before this season, literally five years ago in 2019.
That’s not meant to diminish Gignac’s effort level getting to this point where he’s effectively living his dream. After all, after he signed, head coach Martin St. Louis, who is notoriously undersized himself but still fought tooth and nail en route to earning his way into the Hockey Hall of Fame, complimented Gignac’s compete (and skating) as being NHL-calibre.
Remember David Desharnais?
It’s more so meant to adjust expectations, because there has been chatter that Gignac has skated his way into the Canadiens future plans. Power to him, if that ends up the case. Generally speaking, everyone loves a good underdog. However, realistically speaking, he has more in common with Belzile than either Caufield or St. Louis… or even David Desharnais, another undersized former Canadiens centre who took a circuitous path to become an NHL regular. At one time, Desharnais was even seen as the team’s No. 1 centre, despite only having hit hit modest career highs of 16 goals and 60 points in 2011-12.
Now, that’s not necessarily a time to look back on fondly if you’re a Canadiens fan, but it is a fact. The Canadiens spent so long searching for a top pivot that they, all due respect to Desharnais, settled on him for time. Thankfully, the situation has changed for the better on paper (not practice, with the Habs still in the throes of a seasons-long rebuild). Down the middle, the Canadiens have been relatively blessed.
Right or wrong, Nick Suzuki has made the All-Star Game three times. Some say the injured Kirby Dach will end up being better than him. Alex Newhook is filling in for him, although the jury remains out on his potential down the middle. Meanwhile, in the pipeline are prospects like Owen Beck, Filip Mesar, Xavier Simoneau and Riley Kidney.
It’s obviously unlikely all those prospects make it. There are a lot of hurdles to overcome before you can call yourself an NHL player. Few know that better than Gignac. And right now in his way is a long list of players above him on the Canadiens depth chart at forward.
Evans Outplays Gignac
To put it in perspective, many envision Jake Evans as having an expiry date coming up relatively soon with the Habs. Beck has progressed significantly in his development and is projected as his eventual usurper for a bottom-six-centre role. If Beck can leapfrog over Evans, he certainly can Gignac, in that for all the praise Gignac has earned the last few games, Evans has outplayed him with two goals (that counted) in his last two games.
At this juncture, no one is going to confuse Evans with a top-six forward in the making. He’s also just one year and change older than Gignac. So, expectations surrounding the latter should be tempered. Gignac is a temporary solution at centre, with the Sean Monahan trade and injuries having thinned the herd up front considerably.
Gignac can still prove himself as something more. However, it continues to be a huge uphill battle reminiscent of the one faced by Belzile, who the Rangers seem to see more as a means to an end in the AHL, as far as the development of their top prospects is concerned. So, the notion espoused by the crew on the RDS telecast prior to the Rangers game that he’s forcing St. Louis’ hand is flawed. Injuries are forcing his hand. The narrative Gignac is in the midst of writing a feel-good story is just as misleading.
Related: Top 5 Canadiens Feel-Good Stories in 2022-23
When Belzile finally scored his first-ever NHL goal last season, it was undeniably a celebratory occasion. However there were far bigger ones to acknowledge, just like there are far bigger ones this season relative to Gignac’s tally against the Ducks. For Gignac to truly be putting together a feel-good story, it needs a different ending than Belzile’s.
It’s perfectly natural to want to find silver linings in another losing season, but please look in the right places. Gignac is just getting started in his bid to find long-term success at the NHL level. He may have a headstart on Belzile, but he’s undeniably got a long way to go still before the finish line. That’s a point against him, but also one in his favour if you look at it another way. Pull for him to make it, because he just hasn’t yet.