Montreal Canadiens: Alex Galchenyuk Will Not Play Center

Mark Bergevin and Claude Julien shut down the possibility of Alex Galchenyuk playing center for the Montreal Canadiens at the golf tournament Monday.

It’s amazing how much information Montreal Canadiens fans got at Monday’s golf tournament. This new piece of news has been a delicate subject in Montreal for a few seasons: is Alex Galchenyuk an NHL center or not?

The 23-year-old was drafted four years ago, and has spent most of his NHL career on the wing. The 2015-2016 was when he was given his first legitimate chance to play down the middle. Even though Montreal traded for Jonathan Drouin and have actively made it clear that they will try him at center, there was still hope that Galchenyuk would get another opportunity.

Well after Marc Bergevin and Claude Julien‘s comments, Habs fans have their answer. It looks like the “Galchenyuk at Center” train has made it’s last stop. It wasn’t just at the golf tournament, the Canadiens GM also appeared on TSN 690 and expressed the same belief.

If the point wasn’t hit home enough, Bergevin also talked about it during his 1-on-1 with TSN”s Bob McKenzie saying:

"Until further notice he’s a winger. Last year he started very well but got hurt in LA November-December but never got back. Even with a coaching change, we put him on the wing. Playing center in this league is hard, you have to be on both sides of the puck. Right now, last year especially he had a hard time, Alex had a hard time so hopefully he’ll be back."

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Trying to Understand the Decision

It’s one of those, “I get it, but I don’t get it”, moments with this announcement. The 2013 first round pick had his best offensive year on the team with 30 goals during that 2015-2016 season. That was also the first season he was able to play center for the team with Max Pacioretty on his wing.

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He started last season at center as well, but a couple of injuries kept him out of the line-up. As Bergevin mentioned in his quote, Galchenyuk wasn’t the same! He was no where near the player he was at the beginning of the season, who in fact was making the commitments to defence.

Not to sound whiny here, but how is it fair to not give him one last shot to prove that he can do it. It’s a high-risk low-reward. If it works out on both fronts, the Habs could have a 1-2 of Galchenyuk and Drouin. Music to Habs fan’s ears.

However, Julien chooses the line-up, and he’ll be on the wing. A ray of sunshine in this dark room could be the possibility of using the media negatively for good intentions. It’s possible the window for Galchenyuk to play center isn’t completely closed. Perhaps this was a way to rile him up before camp.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens in training camp. It’ll be pretty disappointing if the Montreal Canadiens are completely done with the idea of having Galchenyuk down the middle.

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Do you agree with the team’s decision on Galchenyuk? Will he ever play center again? Let us know your thoughts down below