How much can Alex Galchenyuk give to the Pittsburgh Penguins?

It will go a long way in determining how the season goes

Some fun and easy summer Sunday viewing about Penguins’ new forward Alex Galchenyuk.

One thing interesting is that Galchenyuk has been described as many things by many people. In some minds he’s great as a speedy goal scoring winger. In others, he’s ideal as a playmaking centerman. He does look like he’s a bit of everything and at different times has done well in various roles and then been inconsistent as well.

Another interesting thing to me was the split of Galchenyuk’s even strength to power play scoring

As you can see in the charts above, he’s had just 10, 10 and 11 ES goals in the past three years. That would make for a fairly disappointing season in Pittsburgh in 2019-20 if that’s where he’s ends up. If Galchenyuk can get back to his ways in Montreal from the two seasons between 2014-16 where he scored 38 ES goals (and 37 ES assists) in the two seasons, that would really go a long ways to making a success.

And despite cries in some circles Kessel didn’t produce enough at even strength last year, he still scored 15 goals and added 31 assists and those 46 ES points are more than any one of Galchenyuk’s seasons.

The power play breakout will be interesting too, being as Galchenyuk has produced well in his career on the man advantage. If the Penguins’ stick with four forwards on the PP, one would think Jake Guentzel is in the mix with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin for sure. Can Galchenyuk get some time with that group? Or would a net-front presence like Patric Hornqvist be the direction to go?

Either way, one would think Galchenyuk should get at least a minute a game with the second unit and an opportunity to add some points there.

In a season of change, one of the biggest parts of Pittsburgh’s newest parts with be Kessel out of the top-six and Galchenyuk in. How he’s able to produce in replacing a star will obviously be a huge factor in how the season goes.