Alex Galchenyuk was drafted third overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 2012. He played with them for the first six years of his NHL career, however, after that, things didn’t go as smoothly for him.
For me, it’s like yesterday I was watching Habs TV videos of “The Gally’s,” or what later became “Gally and Chuky.” They were the heart of the team, at least to me, and to say I was sad when he left the Canadiens is an understatement.
Although Max Domi had the best season of his NHL career with the Canadiens in 2018-19 (28-44-72), I still don’t think trading Galchenyuk was the best long-term option.
However, after trading Domi to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Josh Anderson, it does make it a lot better.
But after six years in Montreal, Galchenyuk managed to get moved to six different teams in five years, including three teams in the 2020-21 season.
He was traded for Domi in June 2018 and played the 2018-19 season with the Arizona Coyotes. He then played 45 games with the Pittsburgh Penguins and 14 with the Minnesota Wild in 2019-20.
And this year, he played eight games with the Ottawa Senators, before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes on Feb. 13, to then be traded from Carolina to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 15. So he never even played for the Hurricanes.
However, he played 26 regular-season games with the Leafs, which I thought were great. He scored four goals and got eight assists for a total of 12 points in the regular season, and one goal and three assists for four points in six games in the playoffs.
Galchenyuk played on the left wing of John Tavares and William Nylander for most of his time in Toronto, and although it may have favoured him, he also helped them set up some nice goals. But with the Leafs’ cap being tight and the 27-year-old now a UFA, it makes us wonder if they will want to keep the ex-Hab or look for a trade.
Could Montreal be a good fit for a now older Galchenyuk?
The Canadiens could use a good left-winger. Although they acquired Tyler Toffoli who’s been playing on the first line with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield in these playoffs, with Tomas Tatar most likely gone in the offseason, they will need a new left-winger.
Galchenyuk has shown that he can play well with Toronto, and he was never bad in his six years in Montreal.
However, I will admit I’m biased, as I’ve always liked him, and hated seeing him go through all those teams in such a short amount of time. I think if the Canadiens are willing to give him another chance, he could be a great addition on the team, either reuniting him on a line with Gallagher (Galchenyuk-Danault-Gallagher) or have him centering the third or fourth line if he wants to play as a center.
I wouldn’t bet on him coming back to Montreal, but I would love to see it and think it could maybe happen one day.