Montreal Canadiens former third overall pick Alex Galchenyuk has signed with the division rival Ottawa Senators.
The Montreal Canadiens drafted Alex Galchenyuk with the third overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft. It was Marc Bergevin’s first big decision as the new general manager of the team. He had just been hired in early May and draft took place about seven weeks later.
It was a bit of a controversial decision as Galchenyuk had been injured with a serious knee injury that season. He played just two regular season games that year and was held without a point.
Still, the Habs rolled the dice on the skilled forward, and thought they had found their future first line centre.
Things looked to be trending in that direction for a while. In his fourth season with the Canadiens, Galchenyuk scored 30 goals and 56 points. He appeared headed for a top six role as a centre, if not a first line spot after that breakout season, but he never quite put it all together with the Habs. There were flashes of great skill and he does have a terrific shot, but his all-around game was lacking too much for him to be trusted in such an important position.
Galchenyuk was moved to the Arizona Coyotes following the 2017-18 season in exchange for Max Domi.
Galchenyuk scored 19 goals and 51 points in his final season with the Habs and reached 19 goals and 41 points in 72 games with the Coyotes. Then he was traded again and he just suffered through a miserable season with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Minnesota Wild.
After the Wild decided not to re-sign him, the 26 year old became an unrestricted free agent at the worst possible time. He is coming off the worst season of his career, having scored just eight goals and 24 points in 59 games. Plus, the league hasn’t had much revenue in about seven months so teams were not willing to spend big this offseason.
Finally, after waiting nearly a month, Galchenyuk has found a new home. He will suit up for the Ottawa Senators and try to re-establish his value on a one-year contract that pays him $1.05 million.
The Senators have a lot of young players, but Galchenyuk could have the inside track on a top six role once again. If he can find a little chemistry with linemates in a second line role, we could see Galchenyuk reach the 20 goal mark again for sure.
The former third overall pick of the Montreal Canadiens is now on his fifth team in the past 28 months. Hopefully he finds some success with the Senators, just not too much when they are at the Bell Centre.