— Now passed! Raw talent is not enough
____________________
Note to readers: In 2021, Alex Galchenyuk was suddenly back in the news as a promising acquisition for the Leafs. This comes after a bumpy three years spent among multiple NHL teams.
Early in 2015, the young Canadiens star seemed to be emerging as a terrific forward, with size, speed and skill. This article in the Brendan Kelly hockey blog TopShelfwithBK asked: Has his moment arrived?
While Galchenyuk had a sensational calendar year with Canadiens in 2016 — finishing one season with 30 goals, then starting the 2016-17 season on fire — the tantalizing phenom never quite recovered his momentum after an injury late in the 2016 season.
A look back at the expectations this top-round draft pick aroused before his sudden trade in June 2018.
………… January 2015
MONTREAL — The Galchenyuk moment is here: Where is he going, and what kind of player will he be?
These are electric issues for Canadiens fans in the third season of top draft pick Alex Galchenyuk’s career. After scoring 89 points over 158 career games – about the same 0.56 points/game pace as in his rookie season – Galchenyuk is likely headed for a 55-point campaign in 2014-15. These modest but respectable scoring totals are overshadowed by his sensational pinpoint passes and perfect, scorer’s-touch finishes:
Fan and pundit expectations have been sky-high: “Galchenyuk … possesses a unique combination of size, skating, high-end skill, and leadership that makes him the type of player every NHL team covets at center.” (Hockeysfuture.com, fall 2013). Online posters enthused: “He’s got a lot more ‘dipsy doodle’ in his game than [Stéphane] Richer ever did. … Sky is the limit for this kid. I think he’s ready to hit 70 points this season. At his peak, he’s at least a PPG player who can dominate the puck.”
Eager to jump ahead in the expectations race, the usually sober Eyes on the Prize site told readers in early 2013 that Galchenyuk was “ahead of [Tyler] Seguin’s development curve. … Does this mean that Galchenyuk is going to explode into a 30-goal and 60+ point player next season [i.e. in 2013-14]?”
Actually, no.
Big rangy skater
Breathless anticipation is tempered by the proviso “he’s only 20”. Young players often need time. Even fabulous No. 1 draft pick Guy Lafleur took years to really emerge. In his third full season, as he fell back to just 21 goals over 73 games, there were pointed questions around the Forum about Lafleur’s can’t-miss status. —How good will he be?
Today, how clearly can we picture Galchenyuk’s future with the Canadiens?
Galchenyuk is a big, rangy skater whose long strides make him capable of sudden shifts in speed. He looks slightly top-heavy, with the top and bottom halves of his body somehow moving at different velocities as he pivots. His long limbs give him a delicate touch with the puck and a powerful shot, which elicits gasps. Galchenyuk matches several NHL player styles and templates. Some evoke versatile, high-scoring forwards like Rick Nash, others the deceptively fast, big-guy styles of a Bobby Smith.
As one HockeysFuture analyst writes, “Galchenyuk has excellent offensive skills, vision, hockey sense, character along with a deep desire and commitment to be the NHL’s best player. He has high-end offensive talent to go along with a strong work ethic and a willingness to pay attention to the defensive side of the game. The big centre needs to improve his first-step acceleration, strength, physicality and defensive zone positioning to be successful centre at the NHL level. His potential is a franchise player and possibly an elite star in the NHL.”
But today Galchenyuk remains mostly a big Rorschach blot, onto which fans project their dreams and hopes. Let’s try to sketch out this blurry future. After all, the Canadiens have seen players like this before.
Does this description sound familiar? …. “ With a long-legged, deceptively quick stride and superior puck-handling skills, he had no difficulty proving his rightful place on the big stage. [His scoring and physical approach] were indicative of his versatility. [He] could be a smooth skating, playmaking center or he could drop the gloves for a bout”, notes one player profile at Canadiens.com.
The Peter precedent
In truth, the player portrayed above had *lots* of trouble proving he belonged in the league. Peter Mahovlich bounced up and down for four seasons between NHL Detroit and the minors before being traded to Montreal in 1969. Once with the Canadiens, he again spent 31 games in the AHL, before finally being called up. He scored 17 points in his 36 games with the Habs (0.47 pts/game) in 1970. He was 22.
A player with many of Galchenyuk’s qualities, Pete, the 6-foot-5 “Little M”, quickly rose to being almost a point-a-game performer for the rest of his career. A reliable goal-scorer and sturdy playmaker, over his nine seasons with the Habs (1969-1978) P.M. scored 223 goals. In his core seasons (1970-1977) when he played about 78 games a year, he netted an average of 35 goals a season.
Then there’s his flash. Some of Pete’s dipsy-doodle rushes (below, with Team Canada in 1972) are Web legends, rivalling any Rick Nash gem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMD9_VHab2k
Compare these Mahovlich moves with the Galchenyuk highlight reel above: absolute assurance with his hands, a sudden burst toward the net, then he brazenly outguesses the overmatched goalie to score. (“Peter had a helluva reach”, said coach Scotty Bowman.) Then, like Galchenyuk, Pete beams unreservedly, as if it’s all some divine surprise.
In Mahovlich’s 2-3 biggest seasons, between 1974 and 1976, he shattered the 100-point barrier twice on the Habs’ legendary big line, often skating at centre between Lafleur and Steve Shutt. Dishing the puck to 60-goal scorers was ideally suited to his adventurous style: his 82 assists remain a Canadiens team record for a single season. You read that right: not Lafleur or Jean Beliveau, Peter Mahovlich. And the 117 points he scored in 1974-75 trail only Guy Lafleur’s gawdy season totals. Revealingly, he was a leader in short-handed goals (17), a stat which, like triples in baseball, is synonymous with excitement.
Unfortunately, Mahovlich lost his scoring altitude after 1977, falling to an annual 65 points. Over his NHL career, he still averaged 0.87 points per game. Pete’s peak was short, just 3-4 top seasons. By comparison, strong skaters and stickhandlers like Mark Recchi (0.92 pts./game) or Brendan Shanahan (0.89) had similar totals, but over far longer careers. And his image as a mischievous fool (he once got into a reckless brawl with a Habs roommate at their hotel, causing him 23 stitches) put off some fans. His achievements were eclipsed. This prompted chronicler Red Fisher to label Mahovlich “the most underrated” Montreal Canadien of all-time.
By contrast, the young Galchenyuk is certainly not underrated. Everything is expected of him: fans are just holding their breath. We can dream Hab dreams, but only his on-ice performance will tell.
- Drop the puck, already!
Epilogue (2018-2021)
The flame burns out
In June 2018, after failing to meet coaches’ expectations both for scoring and defensive play, Alex Galchenyuk was suddenly traded away by the Canadiens. It proved to be a very good barter for GM Marc Bergevin. The Phoenix Coyotes sent underperforming young forward Max Domi to the CH. He took to the Canadiens atmosphere immediately and launched into his best season, with over 70 points. (In off-season 2020, Domi was again traded for power forward Josh Anderson).
Meanwhile, Galchenyuk struggled, as sports reporters like to say, with an underwhelming season in Arizona, before being traded in turn to the Pittsburgh Penguins. There he had a chance to shine with top-end playmakers, including Evgeni Malkin, who seemed ideally suited for the big-brother role Galchenyuk might need in an NHL mentor. But it was not to be and Galchenyuk was again traded, in a revealing pattern, to the Minnesota Wild. Then, in offseason 2020, he was left unprotected by the Wild and signed with the Ottawa Senators. Finally, on Feb 12 2021, he was flipped to the Carolina Hurricanes then immediately on to the Leafs. Six new teams in three years, a downward spiral.
But suddenly, the Leafs offered him offensive support and the role Galchenyuk needed: in his first appearances with the team, he impressed most observers: http://NHL trade deadline: Has Galchenyuk changed Leafs’ plans? (yahoo.com) .
He was a credible addition to Leafs forward group, but then made a massive error in game 5 of the 2021 playoffs, handing the Canadiens an OT victory. His future there was unclear in offseason 2021.
After 8 seasons and 560+ games in the NHL, Galchenyuk has managed 324 points, including 136 goals. Decent stats for a young pro, but nowhere near expectations: https://www.hockey-reference.com/players/g/galchal01.html .
After such great initial promise, his professional results have not matched the raw talent he clearly possesses. As the 2021 season ended, Alex Galchenyuk was no longer seen as a budding offensive force, but as a frustrating 35-40 point man. Fans regret the might-have-beens. –I sure do.
After 8 seasons and 560+ games in the NHL, Galchenyuk has managed 324 points, including 136 goals. Decent stats for a young pro, but nowhere near expectations
