from Michael Russo of The Athletic,

Gerard Gallant was getting near the end of his NHL playing career and was having a hard time on the ice, but so were the Detroit Red Wings on this particular late-season night in the early 90s.

Ticked off as he watched the team sputter from the bench, Gallant poked assistant coach Doug MacLean in the stomach and said, “Tell that fucking dummy to put me on the power play.”

Gallant was comfortable talking to MacLean that way. They had known each other since Gallant was a 10-year-old pipsqueak. In fact, in 1979, when Gallant was 16 years old and in Grade 10 at Three Oaks High School in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, MacLean was his social studies teacher.

So MacLean listened to his former student. He tiptoed down the bench and tapped his pal, head coach Bryan Murray, on the shoulder.

“I left out the ‘fucking dummy’ part, but I said, ‘Bryan, it wouldn’t hurt to give Gerard a little shot on the PP here,'” MacLean recalled, roaring with laughter.

This is how it’s been forever: What you see is what you get with Gallant.

Fiery. Competitive. Always honest, even if it’s to the detriment of own job security.

continued