Senators take a flier on Alex Galchenyuk with one-year deal

He’s becoming well-traveled at just 26 years old, but Alex Galchenyuk found what looks like a good landing spot with the Ottawa Senators.

After Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reported earlier Wednesday a deal was close, the Ottawa Senators have signed free-agent forward Alex Galchenyuk. According to the team’s announcement, it’s a one-year, $1.05 million deal.

Galchenyuk started this past season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, then he was traded to the Minnesota Wild near the deadline. In 59 combined games, he had 24 points (eight goals and 16 assists) with a minus-5 plus/minus.

Optimism about the move to Minnesota being beneficial to him was thrown awry by the season suspension. Galchenyuk had seven points in 14 regular season games for the Wild before going scoreless in four qualifying round games.

Alex Galchenyuk is becoming very well-traveled

The Senators will be Galchenyuk’s fourth team in three seasons. He was taken third overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2012 draft, and he had a 30-goal season for them back in 2015-16. He has four other 40-plus point seasons in his career, most recently 2018-19 with the Arizona Coyotes (41 points — 19 goals and 22 assists).

Galchenyuk was sent to Pittsburgh in the deal that sent Phil Kessel to Arizona last offseason, then to Minnesota in the deal that netted Jason Zucker for the Penguins at this past year’s deadline. Going back a bit further, the Canadiens traded him to the Coyotes in June of 2018 in the Max Domi deal. Through it all, as cited by Pro Hockey Rumors, Galchenyuk is the second-highest scorer in the 2012 draft class (320 points, 135 goals) behind only Filip Forsberg (353 points, 166 goals).

The Senators have made multiple moves to bolster their roster back to front, from goaltender Matt Murray to third overall pick forward Tim Stuetzle. General manager Pierre Dorion cited Galchenyuk’s versatility in comments about the signing.

“Alex’s signing represents another good addition for us at forward,” said Senators general manager Pierre Dorion. “He’s versatile in that he can play both left wing and centre. He’s gifted offensively, has been a solid power-play contributor and is a proven goal scorer in this league.”

Speaking of the power play contributions, Galchenyuk has 41 career power play goals (nine in three separate seasons). He had at least 15 power play points in four straight campaigns (2015-16 to 2018-19).

Galchenyuk looks likely to play on the wing for Ottawa, with an opportunity to recapture his previous scoring form. If it isn’t working out, he may be on the move again when next season’s trade deadline comes.