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Galchenyuk on Habs future: ‘Rumors are always going to be rumors’

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Minas Panagiotakis

When the Montreal Canadiens finally came to terms with talented (and often-criticized) forward Alex Galchenyuk, it was difficult to resist making snarky remarks about him staying with the team “for now.”

(PHT didn’t resist such urges.)

Galchenyuk insisted to the Canadiens’ website that the negotiating process was “pretty smooth,” even with all the rumblings about him possibly being traded out of town. He seemingly brushed off all that talk ... seemingly.

“Rumors are always going to be rumors. It’s pretty hard to avoid them, with social media being so big at this time,” Galchenyuk said. “I tried to stay focused on training and just worry about the things I can control. I’m really happy we got the deal done right now.”

Then again, it might not really be about Galchenyuk’s happiness, anyway. It didn’t sound like P.K. Subban was the one making the call on a trade, after all, and the Habs don’t need to ask Galchenyuk if they decide to make a move:

Hmm.

Give Galchenyuk credit, though. He’s saying all the right things, from praising Jonathan Drouin to joking that he has a clause that he can walk away from any question about playing center vs. wing. With a deal that pays him $4.9 million per season, Galchenyuk could stand as one of the bargain deals in the league.

He can joke about it as much as he wants, but without a NMC or NTC, the rumors will indeed be rumors.

At least it sounds like he wants them to stay that way, and not become confirmations that he’ll eventually be headed out in a trade (with no say regarding where he ends up).

For what it’s worth, Galchenyuk has a strong chance of making the Habs glad that they kept him around ... if they decide to.