Montreal Canadiens: Alex Galchenyuk’s Long, Winding Road Takes Another Turn
The Montreal Canadiens selected Alex Galchenyuk with the third overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft. It was pretty much the first decision Marc Bergevin made after being named general manager that offseason.
There were others on the board that were getting some attention with that pick, but the Canadiens rolled the dice on a player they thought could become a first line center, even though he was injured for most of his draft season.
There were some flashes of potential shown by Galchenyuk with the Canadiens. Before making his NHL debut, he played another half season in the OHL during the NHL’s lockout and averaged nearly two points per game. He also scored eight points in seven games at that year’s World Juniors.
He had 27 points in 48 games as an NHL rookie and scored 20 goals in his third season in the league. Galchenyuk appeared to have figured things out in 2015-16, his fourth season, when he scored 30 goals for the first time in his career.
As it turns out, that would be the peak of his career. Galchenyuk played the first six seasons of his career in Montreal, and it ended in 2017-18 when he scored 19 goals and 51 points. That was just five years ago, but Galchenyuk has gone on quite the winding journey since then and it continued yesterday.
On June 15, 2018 he was traded to the Arizona Coyotes for Max Domi. He spent just one season in Arizona where he scored 19 goals and 41 points in 72 games.
On June 29, 2019 Galchenyuk was on the move again. This time he was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of a package for Phil Kessel. Galchenyuk didn’t last a whole season in Pittsburgh as they traded him at the trade deadline to the Minnesota Wild in a package for Jason Zucker.
The Wild did not re-sign him so he became a UFA in 2020 and signed a one-year contract with the Ottawa Senators. He played just eight games in Ottawa before they traded him to the Carolina Hurricanes. Two days later he was dealt to the Toronto Maple Leafs where he played 26 games and scored 12 points.
After stops in three cities in 2020-21, Galchenyuk was a free agent once again and this time signed back in Arizona. He lasted the whole season there, scoring 21 points in 60 games, but hit the free agent market again in 2022.
He was a professional tryout at the Colorado Avalanche camp last fall and was injured, but he signed a contract with them in November after recovering from his injury. He would play just 11 games with Colorado last season, scoring zero points, although he did have 42 points in 42 AHL games.
Though he is a pending free agent in just seven days, Galchenyuk was dealt once again yesterday this time heading to the Nashville Predators for Ryan Johansen.
If you lost track, that means Galchenyuk played six seasons with the Canadiens before being traded almost exactly five years ago. Since then, he has been part of eight different NHL teams, including two different full season stops in Arizona.
There have been three seasons in his career where he wasn’t a Canadiens or Coyotes player and he was on seven different NHL teams in those three seasons. It has been a wild, twisting career for the one-time top prospect of the Canadiens.
Considering he is a pending unrestricted free agent on July 1, he could be joining yet another organization a week from now. Based on recent years, don’t be surprised if he does sign elsewhere and then gets traded during training camp.
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