Brendan Gallagher’s purpose as a hockey player was always very clear, and he identified it at a very young age.In his first year of midget hockey at age 15 in the lower mainland of British Columbia, Gallagher scored 10 goals in the three first scrimmages of the tryout. He still was not among the initial players selected to the team.“You have two options when you’re kind of faced with a little bit of adversity: you can fold and try to make excuses for yourself, or you can try and work harder,” Gallagher said in the summer of 2019.“At that point, I had some doubt of whether I would make the team or not, but you just keep playing and try to show him you can be a useful player and help him win games.”Why the Senators traded Brady Tkachuk to the Panthers in an NHL blockbusterJulian McKenzieThe anecdote is applicable today in many ways, but none more so than a persistent pattern: Coaches doubt Gallagher; Gallagher eventually proves he’s a useful player who helps win games.That’s it. There was never anything more to his purpose.No goal totals. No personal accolades. Just wins.While sitting with Gallagher last week at a café in Westmount, an upper class enclave city within Montreal where he lives, to discuss the impending end of his time with the Montreal Canadiens, that word — purpose — came up time and time again.Because his purpose had been so clear for so long, since he was a kid. And now that he was a grown man, married, a father, he had lost it.Gallagher has one year left on his contract with a $6.5 million cap hit — but only $4 million in actual salary remaining — and a full no-movement clause. But his lack of playing time down the stretch and, most importantly, in the playoffs led Gallagher to request a trade. The Canadiens gave Gallagher’s agent, Gerry Johansson, permission to speak to teams, and that process is ongoing, with the Canadiens willing to accommodate Gallagher’s desired destination.So now, as he searches for his next NHL employer, he is not only searching for a new home.He is searching for purpose, because for perhaps the first time in his life, Gallagher was unable to convince a coach — in this case Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis — that he could be a useful player and help him win games.Still, he remains confident he can convince another coach he can do that.“It’s different, it’s unique for sure,” Gallagher said of facing this challenge at this stage of his career. “Even going back to junior, I’ve never changed teams. I’ve always had the comfort, the familiarity factor. So it’s going to be a different challenge.“But I’ve always been excited about challenges. I feel like I can handle them, I feel like I’m prepared. It’s going to be different. I know what I’m capable of as a player. I just need to make the right decisions now and put myself in the right position where I can do that, find my purpose again.”The search for that purpose, however, is No. 2 on Gallagher’s list of priorities in terms of figuring out where he will play next.“First and foremost the priority is my family. So that’s No. 1 always. I’ve got a daughter that’s going to be under 2 and a newborn. She can’t be doing that alone,” Gallagher said, referring to his wife, Emma Fortin. “So we need to be in a position where we’re generally close (to family) and we can get some help. And then after that, I want to be in a position where you have purpose. You’re always trying to win, that’s always the goal. But that’s one thing I’ve kind of learned this year: when purpose is taken away from you, it affects me as a person. I think it would affect anyone in their job.“You just don’t feel like you’re yourself. I think any day in life, it’s what motivates you to do what you need to do. And if you don’t have that purpose, you lack that motivation and it’s just not that enjoyable. This is the best job in the world for us to do, but the day you’re not enjoying it, things need to change. I think it’s one of the crucial things in life that everyone needs, and if you don’t have it, I think you need to find it.”