VANCOUVER — In the National Hockey League, Rome never gets built in a day, although the Vegas Golden Knights managed it in one season.

But for actual rebuilds, no one has done it faster in the last decade than the Montreal Canadiens, who went only three years without playoff appearances before emerging with a talented, young (and sustainable) team that is on the cusp of becoming a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. And, really, most of the reconstruction took only a couple of seasons since co-architects Jeff Gorton and Kent Hughes went to work only halfway through the 2021-22 campaign.

Brendan Gallagher had a dressing-room view of the Canadiens’ reconstruction. But before he talks about his new project with the Vancouver Canucks, there were a couple of things he needed to point out Monday when asked about Montreal.

“About the rebuild in Montreal, when it started, you already had Suzie (Nick Suzuki), who (became) a 100-point guy,” Gallagher explained after the Canucks practised at Rogers Arena. “You already had Cole (Caufield), who's a 50-goal scorer. Those are pieces that were already in place. And then you go out and draft ... Lane (Hutson) and (Ivan) Demidov, you draft (Juraj) Slafkovsky. Those are obviously huge, huge pieces. They get (Jacob) Fowler. Like, they add a bunch of pieces, but maybe sped things up a little bit because you had essentially a first line already.”

The Canucks, by comparison, have their best two forward prospects, Caleb Malhotra and Braeden Cootes, still playing college and minor-league hockey. They are a long way from establishing themselves as NHL players, let alone first-line NHL players.

“I think there are a lot of really good pieces in this locker room,” Gallagher said, pivoting to the Canucks. “It's important that they understand, you know, the life of being a pro and going through a full season and understanding the demands on your body and taking........

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