(Kate Frese/Sports Talk Philly)
By Rob Riches, Sports Talk Philly contributor 
Montreal helped open the NHL trading season with a resounding bang on Thursday, acquiring Jonathan Drouin from Tampa Bay and immediately locking up the pending restricted free agent to a six-year deal. It gives the Canadiens a top-line scorer they've been looking for, and spares them the hassle of signing him to an offer sheet once free agency opens in July.
The Habs, however, are not done just yet. Despite Drouin spending the entirety of his young pro career at left wing, they're moving him over to center, and have expressed that Alex Galchenyuk has worn out his welcome. They've made it clear that Galchenyuk is available, and with general managers convening in Chicago for the NHL Draft next week, he could be on his way out sooner rather than later. Surely, a player with Galchenyuk's talents could help the Flyers, but is it the right move for the club?
Though Galchenyuk's played in four seasons and 336 games at the NHL level, he's only 23 years old. Though he missed 21 games this past season with a knee injury, he potted 17 goals and 44 points — a slight dip from his career-best 30-goal, 56-point season in a full 2015-16 campaign. When healthy, he's a proven scorer, and at 23, his ceiling is still sky-high. Even when he's not scoring goals, he can still set them up — registering at least 26 assists in each of his last three seasons.
One of the Flyers' most documented issues over the past several seasons has been the embarrassment of riches down the middle — it's been a contributing factor for Scott Laughton never being able to fully get off the ground at the NHL level. The Orange and Black have a top-line center set in stone in Claude Giroux, so Galchenyuk won't need to shed that responsibility. Valtteri Filppula, Sean Couturier and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare round out the centers, so Galchenyuk would be best fit on the wing (a move not unlike Simon Gagne's move to the left wing years ago). Galchenyuk's still young enough in his pro career to make that transition, and it would immediately bolster the Flyers' secondary scoring — one of their biggest woes in the 2016-17 season.
While Philadelphia is very much an intense, passionate hockey market, it still pales in comparison to the relentless environment of La Belle Province. Galchenyuk can thrive in a market that's not on his case on a 24/7 basis, especially in a reduced and secondary role. His aforementioned experience also includes four playoff campaigns and seven series with the Habs — playoff experience that would be valuable for a club looking to return to the NHL's playoff dance and win their first series since 2012.
Sure, the Canadiens are ready to give up on the third-overall draft choice in 2012, but it's not like they'll give him up for pennies on the dollar. They lost a top defensive prospect in Mikhail Sergachev for Drouin, and with defensive depth wearing down, they'll want another young blueliner. Perhaps a prospect like Travis Sanheim or Robert Hagg could be coveted, but with general manager Ron Hextall taking immense pride in his young defensive core, it's not likely he's ready to move on from any of them. Montreal general manager Marc Bergevin could also swing for the fences and ask for Shayne Gostisbehere, Ivan Provorov or the No. 2 draft pick in return (just to do his due diligence; what GM wouldn't?), but there's absolutely no way the Flyers would move on from any of those.
On paper, it doesn't seem as if moving a player of Galchenyuk's caliber would make sense for the Canadiens. But considering the team ran P.K. Subban out of town on a rail last offseason, anything's possible with them. That team will go to any length if it gives them the slightest possible chance of padding their Stanley Cup total, no matter how baffling it may be.
Alex Galchenyuk is a player that could immediately help the Flyers out up front, but despite his youth, a transition to the wing could go either way. He'll come at a pretty steep cost, and it's a cost that the Orange and Black may (justifiably) balk at. Trading for him may seem like a good idea, but that doesn't mean it's one that would exactly work.
