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 Friday. "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."
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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."