Coyotes to terminate Alex Galchenyuk’s contract… 12 days after signing him: Around the League

A story as mysterious, bizarre, and downright intriguing as this one gets its own Around the League column!

On Thursday morning, the Coyotes announced that they had placed forward Alex Galchenyuk on unconditional waivers for purposes of terminating his contract… that they signed him to just 12 days ago.

On July 1st, the Coyotes agreed to terms with the 29-year-old Galchenyuk on a one-year two-way deal… On the very first day of free agency… 12 days ago. The club added that they will have no further comment at this time, so obviously we don’t want to speculate too much, but it certainly is bizarre.

According to Coyotes reporter Craig Morgan, the NHLPA is “reviewing this matter”, so it will certainly be interesting to see what comes of this seemingly very bizarre set of circumstances.

Just three weeks ago, the Colorado Avalanche traded Galchenyuk to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Ryan Johansen in what was purely a cap dumping-related move by Nashville. Galchenyuk appeared in 11 games for the Avalanche after spending the majority of this past season in the AHL, and didn’t register a point.

After acquiring the pending UFA, Nashville allowed Galchenyuk to go to walk, and as mentioned, he signed with the Coyotes on the first day of free agency.

Selected third overall by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Galchenyuk has bounced around the league and has struggled to find a home, as he’s been a member of eight different organizations since the Habs gave up on him following the 2017-18 season.

In that time, Galchenyuk has never been a member of the same team for two consecutive seasons. He has been a member of the Arizona Coyotes twice before, the first time in 2018-19, the second in 2021-22.

More to come.

UPDATE: Katie Strang of The Athletic reported the following: