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Major: Alex Galchenyuk was not supposed to be drafted by Marc Bergevin

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MarcO
September 5, 2023  (9:12)
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In hindsight, it's pretty simple to say that the Habs should have selected a player other than Alex Galchenyuk 3rd overall in 2012. Many even go so far as to say that he was a flop, which is not true.

Admittedly, the CH's former number 27 hasn't aged well in the league, but he's still had some great seasons in Montreal. Let's just say that Marc Bergevin traded him at the right time.

Speaking of Bergevin, in a column by Mathias Brunet, the former CH DG admitted that his choice was Morgan Rielly, not Galchenyuk.

Yes, I really liked Rielly. But I had just been hired on May 2, and my new staff really liked Alex Galchenyuk. I was with Chicago that season, and we were drafting later. We weren't wasting our time with Galchenyuk, who was probably going to be drafted first; besides, he'd hardly played that winter. I looked at our situation at center, we had David Desharnais, Tomas Plekanec, and Chucky was considered a center. You come in, you haven't seen Galchenyuk play and you're going to force them to take another player? It's a good start to a relationship. I let them choose. What's more, I agreed that we needed center players. But I really liked Morgan Rielly.

- Marc Bergevin

You could say it would have been a solid choice by the Habs. Rielly is an excellent defenseman and he plays for the enemy in Toronto.

As for Galchenyuk, he's still the 5th-highest scorer of his generation, despite his less-than-productive last few seasons. That says a lot about his good years in Montreal and the lack of depth at the 2012 draft.

Credit: HF

POLL
5 SEPTEMBRE   |   32 ANSWERS
Major: Alex Galchenyuk was not supposed to be drafted by Marc Bergevin

Do you think Galchenyuk, who now plays in the KHL, will ever return to the NHL?

Yes13.1 %
No3196.9 %
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