What’s not to like about OHL Player of the Week, Alex Galchenyuk?
Drafted 3rd overall in 2012, the Montreal Canadiens prospect has been tearing up the OHL, climbing amongst scoring leaders before shipping off to the USA Junior selection camp – born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin he’s thus eligible to dress for the USA in the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championships in Ufa.
The concern during his draft year was a devastating ACL injury in preseason that kept him out of all but two regular season games in 2011-12 and six playoff matches (6-2-2-4).
That’s all behind him now, and in 2012-13 Galchenyuk is dominating the OHL.
At November's end, Galchenyuk ranked 6th among drafted prospects playing in the OHL outlined in this weekly drafted prospect update spreadsheet:
Drafted Prospects By Team.
| Player | Draft Team | Pos | GP | G | A | PTS | Pt/G |
| Ryan Strome | New York Islanders | C | 27 | 17 | 34 | 51 | 1.89 |
| Seth Griffith | Boston Bruins | RW | 26 | 19 | 25 | 44 | 1.69 |
| Mark Scheifele | Winnipeg Jets | C | 25 | 20 | 23 | 43 | 1.72 |
| Brett Ritchie | Dallas Stars | RW | 27 | 21 | 21 | 42 | 1.56 |
| Boone Jenner | Columbus Blue Jackets | C | 27 | 24 | 17 | 41 | 1.52 |
| Alex Galchenyuk | Montreal Canadiens | C | 25 | 15 | 26 | 41 | 1.64 |
As of games played up to December 17, the Sarnia Sting forward had moved up to second overall in drafted prospects, and second overall in the OHL, one point behind Ryan Strome. He’s scored 12 goals and 20 points in that timeframe.
| Player | Draft Team | Pos | GP | G | A | PTS | Pt/G |
| Ryan Strome | New York Islanders | C | 32 | 22 | 40 | 62 | 1.94 |
| Alex Galchenyuk | Montreal Canadiens | C | 33 | 27 | 34 | 61 | 1.85 |
| Seth Griffith | Boston Bruins | RW | 36 | 25 | 33 | 58 | 1.61 |
| Brett Ritchie | Dallas Stars | RW | 32 | 27 | 23 | 50 | 1.56 |
| Vincent Trocheck | Florida Panthers | C | 35 | 24 | 26 | 50 | 1.43 |
Linemate, Charles Sarault – ranked 4th in OHL scoring (34-11-41-52) – has been one of the biggest benefactors of playing alongside the talented Galchenyuk.
Beyond the boxcar statistics, here’s a breakdown of some of the Galchenyuk’s season statistics with his surrounding cast playing a part.
First, is a break down by period. For context, I’ve also included the Sting’s top three scorers and top defensive pairing offensively.
| Goals | Assist1 | Assist2 | ||||||||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | |
| Galchenyuk, Alex | 8 | 9 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 0 |
| Sarault, Charles | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Boucher, Reid | 7 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| Basso, Alex | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Murphy, Connor | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
While Galchenyuk has scored double-digit goals in the 3rd period (10), Reid Boucher has one more (11). Galchenyuk fired twice into an open net and Boucher once.
In the last 19 games in particular, Galchenyuk has tore up score sheets with a scorching hot hand: (19-19-21-40) scoring 65.6% of his total points. Boucher (19-19-6-25) scored 62.5% of his points during this period – with four of the six assists registered on Galchenyuk goals. Sarault scored (19-5-33-38) – 62.3% of his season point totals.
| Goals | Assist1 | Assist2 | ||||||||||
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | OT | |
| Sarault, Charles | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| Boucher, Reid | 5 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Galchenyuk, Alex | 6 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
A note on the concept of primary and secondary assists just before moving forward. Sequencing of registered assists is usually correct as witnessed on game sheets. However, instances where assists are reversed originating from ice level communication may skew the primary assist, transposing either of player names/numbers. Skepticism in these categorizations between primary and secondary assists are more like guides along a trend.
Overall the trend should be very evident. An example is the 13 primary assists by Charles Sarault on Galchenyuk goals, versus the two solitary secondary assists.
The columns Gally 1st(2nd) assists are Galchenyuk assists on goals by the players listed along the left column.
| 94 | Galchenyuk Goals | 1 Assists | 2nd assists | Gally 1st Assists | Gally 2nd Assists |
| 7 | Kuzmyk, Jack | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11 | Hargrave, Brett | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 13 | Dundas, Justice | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | Sarault, Charles | 13 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 14 | Boucher, Reid | 4 | 3 | 8 | 5 |
| 18 | Moore, Bryan | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Nikandrov, Daniel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 52 | Basso, Alex | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 |
| 55 | Murphy, Connor | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| 71 | Goldobin, Nikolay | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 77 | DeAngelo, Anthony | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
I also feel goal scorers elevate the assist stats of playmakers with finishing ability, locking down points.
Reid Boucher’s goals include a team high 13 assists from Galchenyuk, eight as the primary.
Breaking it down even further is the breakdown of all the players that assisted on his goals. Sarault leads the team with 13 first assists. Galchenyuk has in turn assisted on five of Sarualt’s 11 goals, with four assists recorded with the man-advantage.
Sarault in turn assisted on five of Galchenyuk’s seven power play goals, four as the primary assist.
| PPG | Galchenyuk Goals | 1 Assists | 2nd assists | Gally 1st Assists | Gally 2nd assists |
| 12 | Sarault, Charles | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 14 | Boucher, Reid | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 52 | Basso, Alex | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 55 | Murphy, Connor | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
Sarault’s period breakdown mark out 10 assists on Galchenyuk goals that occurred in the 2nd and 3rd periods. Out of the 24 assists during those two periods, nine of the remaining 14 assists were earned on goals by Reid Boucher.
The Montreal prospect's next challenge is the World Junior Championships.
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