Alex Galchenyuk was traded to the Arizona Coyotes by the Montreal Canadiens for Max Domi on Friday.
Galchenyuk had 51 points (19 goals, 32 assists) in 82 games with the Canadiens this season. The forward has two seasons remaining on a three-year contract that runs through the 2019-20 season.
"We acquired a 24-year-old former third overall pick who scored 30 goals in the League and we still think has upside left in his own game," Coyotes general manager John Chayka said. "But obviously you're giving up a very talented player, a very good person, someone that's been active in the community, done a lot of good things. So these are tough decisions. They're not ones that we make lightly, but at the same time my job's to improve our team, and I can say that we feel that we're a better team today."
Selected by Montreal in the first round (No. 3) in the 2012 NHL Draft, Galchenyuk has 255 points (108 goals, 147 assists) in 418 regular-season games and has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) in 28 games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He scored 30 goals in 2015-16.
"We were looking for a guy that can score some goals for us, we were looking for someone that had some versatility, had some experience playing [center], had the potential to play up the middle, give us some depth at that position," Chayka said. "So I think Alex obviously checks all those boxes, and when you start going through the League and you look at players that have produced at the level he has at the age he has, the price point, we looked at all these different things, and quite frankly there's very few of these guys."
Domi, a 23-year-old forward, had 45 points (nine goals, 36 assists) in 82 games with the Coyotes this season. He had 52 points (18 goals, 34 assists) in 81 games as a rookie in 2015-16 and finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting.
"I would think his last year he had kind of an abnormally low shooting percentage obviously (6.0 percent) and just never really got on track," Chayka said. "As a team we struggled early, I think he struggled as well, and then the season started to snowball on him a bit, and I think some of that was just him taking the weight of the team on him and carrying a lot. So I think as the season wore on, I think he got better and better and certainly showed us what he could do as a player down the stretch."
Domi can become a restricted free agent July 1. Montreal is attempting to sign him to a contract before then, TSN reported. The Canadiens had not commented on the trade as of Friday night.
Last June 15, the Canadiens acquired forward Jonathan Drouin in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning that included defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. Montreal that day signed Drouin, a pending restricted free agent, to a six-year contract.
Selected by Arizona in the first round (No. 12) of the 2013 NHL Draft, Domi has 135 points (36 goals, 99 assists) in 222 regular-season games.
"Obviously you have to give to get in this League, and you know Max is a very talented young player in his own right, but hopefully it's one of those things where the fit works on both sides and it works for everybody," Chayka said.
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