Brendan Gallagher wore that letter for years, through some of the hardest seasons this franchise has had in a generation. When he was traded to Vancouver this summer after his role and his ice time shrank last year, he didn’t just leave a hole in the bottom six — he left an empty letter next to Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson, on a team that just went on a real playoff run to the Eastern Conference Final. That means the Canadiens alternate captain job is open for the first time in years.

That’s not a small thing. The A isn’t a participation trophy. It’s the organization telling the room, in writing, who they trust when the coach isn’t the one talking. So before the puck drops on this season, I want to go through the real candidates for that letter — what each of them brings, and what holds each of them back — before I tell you who I’d actually give it to.

The Contenders for Canadiens Alternate Captain

Lane Hutson — the boldest case

Nobody in this organization has had a faster rise than Lane Hutson. A second-round pick in 2022 (62nd overall), he made his NHL debut in April 2024, won the Calder Trophy the following spring as the league’s top rookie — the first Canadiens player to do that since Ken Dryden in 1972 — and then backed it up with a full second NHL season in 2025-26 that carried right through that Eastern Conference Final run. He set franchise records for a rookie defenseman along the way: 57 assists, 66 points. Last October, the team locked him up with an eight-year, $70.8 million extension, which is about as clear a statement as an organization can make about who its cornerstone is.

The leadership case is real too. Hutson came up being told he was too small, too light, not built for the NHL game — and instead of arguing about it, he just played until the argument went away. That’s leading by example in its purest form, and he’s already got two full NHL seasons and a deep playoff run on his resume, not a rookie season alone.

The honest problem: he’s a defenseman, and this organization has traditionally paired one forward alternate with one defenseman alternate — Matheson already holds that second spot. Giving Hutson the letter likely means taking it from someone else on the back end, not just adding it.

Josh Anderson — the one who’s already done the job

Anderson isn’t a hypothetical here. When Gallagher was a healthy scratch last season, Anderson was the one who wore the A in his place — including through the playoffs. Columbus drafted him 95th overall in 2012; Montreal traded for him in October 2020 and signed him to a seven-year deal within days. He played a real role in the 2021 Cup Final run, and last season he passed 600 career NHL games.

What he brings every night doesn’t show up as a stat: the compete level, the physicality, the tone he sets before the puck even drops. And unlike every other name here, he’s not auditioning for the role — he’s already held it, recently, and the team didn’t blink when they gave it to him.

The honest problem: his contract is up in a year. Handing the letter to a pending free agent is a short-term answer to a long-term question, even if he’s proven he can carry it.

Alex Newhook — the one who’s actually won it

This is the credential nobody else here can match, and it’s bigger than I gave it credit for the first time through this. Newhook won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2022, the third player from Newfoundland and Labrador ever to do it. Colorado took him 16th overall in 2019; Montreal traded for him in June 2023, in the deal that reunited him with GM Kent Hughes, his former agent.

And now he’s got a Montreal moment to match the Colorado one. Last postseason, Newhook scored back-to-back series-clinching goals — first against Tampa Bay, then the overtime winner in Game 7 against Buffalo that sent the Canadiens to the Eastern Conference Final. That OT goal made him the fourth player in franchise history to score a Game 7 overtime winner, and only the second player in NHL history — after Nathan Horton in 2011 — to score multiple series-clinching goals in Game 7 in the same postseason. He led the team in 5-on-5 scoring that run with 9 points, and put up 6 goals in the Sabres series alone. That’s not potential. That’s a guy who’s already delivered the biggest goals of the season, twice, when the room needed them most.

Alex Newhook Scores Both Game-Winning Goals in Game 7 for Montreal.

— Hockey Performances (@PerformancesNHL) 2026

The honest question isn’t whether he’s proven himself — it’s whether the room sees him as a leader yet, or just as the guy who scored the goals. Those aren’t always the same thing this early into a tenure.

Jake Evans — the one nobody expected

And then there’s the man I think should be the Canadiens alternate captain: Evans. A 207th-overall pick in 2014 — about as close to the bottom of the draft as you can get, with no real expectation attached to that slot — who was already team captain at Notre Dame before he ever turned pro. He’s now played 418 games in a Habs sweater, second on the current roster only to Suzuki himself. He anchors the penalty kill, he can play center or wing, and this spring he signed a four-year extension at a below-market number instead of testing unrestricted free agency — a guy who could have chased a bigger paycheck elsewhere and chose to stay instead.

The Alternative “A” — sharing the letter

There’s a real case that this doesn’t have to be a one-man job, and the organization already showed you that themselves: Anderson wearing the A whenever Gallagher sat last season is proof the Canadiens are comfortable rotating it depending on matchup and moment, not locking it to one name for the next decade.

If it goes that way, three names are already part of the conversation around this team. Juraj Slafkovsky, the No. 1 overall pick in 2022, just had the breakout the organization has been waiting on — he didn’t miss a single game, playing all 82, and finished with 30 goals, 43 assists, and 73 points, easily the best season of his young career. That’s a power forward hitting his stride at exactly the right time. Cole Caufield, the 15th overall pick in 2019, just won the Lady Byng Trophy — 51 goals with only seven minor penalty minutes — and has been Suzuki’s partner on the top line for years; he’s the guy who celebrates a teammate’s goal louder than his own. And Kaiden Guhle, a 2020 first-rounder (16th overall) on a six-year, $33.3 million extension, draws the toughest matchups on the back end every night the coaching staff trusts him to — the durability questions are real after multiple surgeries, but nobody doubts the trust when he’s in the lineup.

None of the three needs the full-time letter to lead. But if Montreal wants a group that reflects the whole room instead of one voice, this is the pool it comes from.

The Verdict — My Pick

My pick for Canadiens alternate captain is Jake Evans, and I know that’s going to surprise some people who expected me to pick a bigger name.

Here’s why. Go back and watch him after a loss — not after a win, after a loss, when it’s easy to hide behind a cliche. Evans stands there and tells you the truth. He’s not shy about it. That’s not a small thing in a market like Montreal, and it’s exactly the kind of accountability a letter is supposed to represent.

Then look at the path. Nobody handed this guy anything. A 207th overall pick isn’t a prospect the organization builds around — it’s a guy nobody expected to play a single NHL game, let alone 418 of them. And before any of that, he was already a captain at Notre Dame. Leadership isn’t a role he’s growing into. It’s one he’s already held.

And the way he plays backs it up. He can take a regular shift, kill penalties, slide over to center or wing depending on what the lineup needs that night — he fills the chair whenever the team needs someone to fill it, on both sides of the puck. That’s not the flashiest resume in this group. It’s the most complete one.

The A isn’t a scoring award. It’s a trust award. And nobody in that room has earned more of it, on both sides of the puck and both sides of the microphone, than Jake Evans.

Who would you give the letter to? Let me know in the comments.