Former Canadiens First-Round Pick Available On Waivers

The Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche have placed Canadiens draft pick Alex Galchenyuk on waivers.

Colorado #GoAvsGo have placed Jayson Megna and Alex Galchenyuk on waivers

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) December 5, 2022

Galchenyuk, who was chosen third overall by the Canadiens at the 2012 Draft, has gone through a string of tryouts with various teams since he was traded from the Habs to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Max Domi.

Since playing for Montreal and Arizona, he’s had stints with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Minnesota Wild, the Ottawa Senators, the Coyotes again, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and finally, the Colorado Avalanche.

There were a few encouraging starts, and the Leafs thought they had managed to rebuild the young forward into an efficient presence at both ends of the ice.

They had not.

But in this case, the waiver assignment isn’t due to Galchenyuk’s poor play.

Following an audition that saw him earn 7 points in 7 games with the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate the Colorado Eagles, Galchenyuk signed a contract with the Avalanche on Nov.28.

We have agreed to terms with forward Alex Galchenyuk for a one-year contract for the remainder of the 2022-23 season.#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/OSpLLy6KSe

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) November 28, 2022

Despite being placed on waivers, Galchenyuk can still play for the Avalanche in their upcoming game on Monday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, and he won’t necessarily have to report to the AHL.

If he does clear waivers, it will give the Avalanche a little more flexibility, seeing as he won’t have to go through waivers for any future AHL assignments.

Galchenyuk will turn 29 in February and is playing for his seventh NHL franchise.

He’s scored 146 goals and 208 assists in 646 games played throughout his career.

His best result came in 2015-16 when he scored 30 goals and 26 assists for the Canadiens, but a string of serious knee injuries eventually led to a lack of consistency in his results, and consequently, a trade.

It remains to be seen whether Galchenyuk will stick with his current NHL team for more than one season, but the Avalanche do tend to take a very cautious approach to filling out their roster. It stands to believe they have performed due diligence in this case.

Galchenyuk may never score 30 goals again in his career, but if used properly, he can become a semi-regular source of tertiary offence.