Installment no. 19 of our 25 Montreal Canadiens in 25 days series is dedicated to Alex Galchenyuk.
You have to be a pretty special player to miss all but two games in your draft year and still be selected third overall.
Galchenyuk is exactly that. He only needed one season of major junior hockey with the OHL’s Sarnia Sting to show what he was made of before the Canadiens took their chances on him at the 2012 NHL Draft.
What a season it was.
Galchenyuk scored 31 goals and 83 points as a 16-year-old, finishing second in the OHL’s rookie scoring race in 2010-11.
It was a torn anterior cruciate ligament that kept him on the shelf for the majority of the 2011-12 season. The Milwaulkee-born player of Russian decent was able to return for the playoffs that year, scoring two goals and two assists in six games with the Sting.
With the NHL locked out from July to December of 2012, Galchenyuk went back to Sarnia and began proving that the knee injury he suffered wouldn’t slow his progress as an elite prospect. In 33 games, he scored 27 goals and 34 assists, leaving the OHL in his dust en route to Canadiens camp — but not before torching the 2013 World Junior Championship with eight points in seven games to help the Americans win gold.
Galchenyuk had flashes of brilliance with Montreal in his rookie season, too, scoring nine goals and 18 assists in 48 games.
It was thought Galchenyuk’s production might dip a bit in his sophomore season with Canadiens coach Michel Therrien easing up on sheltering him from tough matchups. That was confirmed when Galchenyuk only managed 13 goals and 31 points in 65 games. He missed six weeks with a broken hand suffered in January 2014, and on the eve of the playoffs he suffered a knee-sprain.
It wasn’t until the Eastern Conference Final that year that Galchenyuk was able to return, when he scored this game-winning goal in his second game back.
It was thought that Galchenyuk would be moved to his natural position of centre for the 2014-15 season, but his defensive game wasn’t up to Therrien’s standard.
After the announcement was made that he’ll be playing centre in 2015-16, everyone in Montreal is dying to see how Galchenyuk will fare in his new role.
Who: Alexander Galchenyuk | No. 27 | Second/first line, centre (shoots left) | 6-foot-1 | 207 lbs | Age: 21 | @AGally94
Acquired: 2012 Entry Draft (3rd overall)
Contract status: 2 years, $2.8M AAV (expires 2017)
2014-15 Stats: 80 GP | 20 G | 26 A | 46 P | 16:25 TOI | 50.9 CF%
Career stats: 193 GP | 42 G | 62 A | 104 P | 14:22 TOI | 49.8 CF%
The book on 2014-15:
Galchenyuk started the season with seven points in his first seven games, but then hit a rough patch with just two points in the 10 games that followed.
After rebounding nicely toward the end of November, Galchenyuk was coming on at the beginning of December, which led Therrien to decide to finally test him out at centre.
He may not have scored in that first game up the middle on Dec. 9, but Galchenyuk showed just how dominant he could be pivoting leading goal-scorer Max Pacioretty and forward Brendan Gallagher. The line spent the majority of their night matched up against the Vancouver Canucks‘ Sedin twins and owned them in the possession stats with all three players posting over 95 per cent in Corsi For at even strength.
Galchenyuk didn’t score in his second game at the position, either, but he more than made up for it when the Carolina Hurricanes came to town on Dec. 16, recording his first-ever NHL hat trick.
Those three points were part of nine Galchenyuk would score over an eight-game stretch; his most productive stint of the regular season.
However, a few bad outings on the road saw Galchenyuk’s 14-game tryout at centre come to an end. He completed the season at wing.
When all was said and done, Galchenyuk recorded career-highs in goals, assists and points. He added a goal and three assists in 12 Stanley Cup playoff games.
Off-season updates:
It was a busy off-season for Galchenyuk.
After general manager Marc Bergevin told Montrealers in May that Galchenyuk might never become the centre he was drafted to be, he and Therrien informed him in June that they were committed to giving him an extended look at the position for the 2015-16 season.
Having fired long-time agents Igor Larianov and Ian Pulver and hired agent Pat Brisson of CAA, Galchenyuk then came to terms on a two-year bridge contract with the Canadiens on July 30.
He made his annual trip to Belarus where his grandparents live, and spent the majority of his summer training in Florida.
2015-16 outlook:
If 20 goals and 26 assists in 2014-15 were considered a disappointment for Galchenyuk, the expectation he can shatter those numbers in 2015-16 shouldn’t be out of line.
Doing so is going to depend on health and on how his wingers perform. While he’s certainly not locked into playing with Alexander Semin and Lars Eller, who have both proven to be inconsistent scorers throughout their careers, that is who he’ll start the centring.
He’s likely to get some games in with Pacioretty and Gallagher, too, and he’s going to be the go-to guy on the first power play unit, which should help him break out offensively. But it’s his attention to detail in the defensive end that will enable him to keep his place at centre.
The sky is the limit for Galchenyuk and, depending on how high he can reach, he’s going to play a big part in helping the Canadiens establish themselves as true contenders.
