Gerard Gallant Chosen as HC for Quebec City NHL Expansion Team by B/R App Users

After choosing Quebec City as their desired locale for a hypothetical NHL expansion team, B/R app users chose Gerard Gallant as the team's head coach via a poll that was conducted on the app.

With the upcoming NHL Seattle franchise preparing to announce its name and reveal its logo Thursday, expansion is a hot topic of conversation, and no coach in recent memory has enjoyed more success with an expansion team early in its history than Gallant.

The 56-year-old was chosen as the head coach of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights prior to their debut season in 2017-18. Gallant previously had limited success in stints as the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Florida Panthers.

Across six combined seasons in Columbus and Florida, Gallant went just 152-141-31 with four ties. He led the Panthers to the playoffs in 2015-16, but they were eliminated in the first round.

Despite his pedestrian record, the Golden Knights franchise tabbed Gallant as a coach capable of getting the most out of a new team with a roster comprising players who had no existing chemistry and little experience playing together.

That decision turned out to be perfect, as Gallant shockingly led the Golden Knights to a 51-24-7 record in their debut season and a playoff berth. That alone was a massive accomplishment, but Gallant took it a step further by leading Vegas all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.

No expansion team had ever reached the championship round of the playoffs in the history of the four major North American sports previously, but Gallant changed that, getting career years out of players like William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault, David Perron, Reilly Smith, Erik Haula, Colin Miller and Nate Schmidt in the process.

Most of the roster was fairly young and inexperienced in terms of playing a significant role on an NHL team, but Gallant somehow found a way to make them comfortable quickly, and the results were nothing short of remarkable.

The Golden Knights fell to the Washington Capitals in the Stanley Cup Final, but for a team that wasn't even supposed to sniff the playoffs, it was an all-time great accomplishment.

Gallant proved the following year that he and the Golden Knights were no flash in the pan, as he led them back to the playoffs. Vegas wasn't as good, as evidenced by its 43-32-7 record, and it was eliminated in the first round in controversial circumstances. However, two postseason appearances in two seasons is no mean feat for an expansion club.

The Golden Knights got off to a slow start this season, which led to Gallant's surprise firing after 49 games with a 24-19-6 record.

Time will tell whether firing Gallant and hiring Peter DeBoer was the right decision, but it is one that could come back to haunt Vegas if Gallant catches on elsewhere and enjoys similar success.

Given what Gallant did in Vegas, he has to be considered a leading candidate for the Seattle job, so it comes as little surprise that the B/R app users chose him as head coach for their hypothetical Quebec City-based NHL expansion team.