The NHL trade deadline is still more than two months away, but there appears to be a decent chance Pittsburgh Penguins forward Alex Galchenyuk won’t have to wait that long to be shipped to a new team.
Citing a report from The Athletic‘s Josh Yohe — in which Pittsburgh general manager Jim Rutherford said there might be a fit for Galchenyuk once the forward group gets healthy — Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman addressed the latest on Galchenyuk’s future.
“I do think Buffalo was one of the teams that looked at him,” Friedman said during the Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada. “I’m sure there’s more. But Galchenyuk is someone who could be finding a new home.”
Galchenyuk, 25, was the third-overall pick in the 2012 NHL draft by Montreal. He hasn’t surpassed 56 points in any of his six seasons and had registered just two goals and 10 points in 20 games entering Saturday.
Pittsburgh is Galchenyuk’s third NHL team in the past three seasons. He was traded one-for-one from Montreal to Arizona for Max Domi, then traded as part of a multi-player deal that sent Phil Kessel from the Penguins to the Coyotes.
In four of the past five games, Galchenyuk has skated fewer than 10 minutes while slotting into the left wing spot on Pittsburgh’s fourth line. The Penguins’ forward group will become quite crowded with the eventual returns of Sidney Crosby (as soon as late December), Nick Bjugstad (as soon as early January) and Patric Hornqvist (as soon as late December).
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