NHL Notebook: Alex Galchenyuk signs two-year deal in KHL and Tomas Tatar, Patrick Kane among best remaining free agents
By Zach Laing
11 months agoFormer NHL forward Alex Galchenyuk has signed a two-year deal to play for the KHL’s SKA St. Petersburg, the club announced Friday.
The 29-year-old, who pled guilty in Arizona court last week to a misdemeanour threatening charge in relation to a July incident, grew up in Russia before returning to North America for his junior hockey career.
That July incident saw Galchenyuk allegedly threaten to kill officers targeting one with a racial slur.
Earlier in the offseason, he had signed a one-year contract with the Arizona Coyotes before his contract was terminated after the incident.
Here’s more from Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis:
Earlier this week, five charges against Galchenyuk were dismissed, but he awas sentenced to 30 days in jail. He was credited one day for time served and will be cut down by a further 27 once he completes an alcohol recovery program, as well as going a full year without consuming or possessing alcohol. Two days of jail time will be left.St. Petersburg is home to a host of players with NHL ties, including Philadelphia Flyers prospect Matvei Michkov. The team also has a handful of former NHLers, including Brendan Leipsic and Valentin Zykov. SKA has lost in the KHL’s conference final five times in a row, last winning the 2017 KHL title.Galchenyuk spent most of 2022-23 in the AHL, recording 42 points in 42 games with the Colorado Eagles. He had an 11-game run with the Avalanche, failing to register a point. Galchenyuk’s best season saw him put up 30 goals and 56 points in 2015-16 while with the Canadiens.Drafted No. 3 overall by the Habs in 2012, Galchenyuk has 146 goals and 354 points in 654 games between Montreal, Arizona, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Ottawa, Toronto and Colorado. This will be his first trip to play in the KHL, which is set to play a pre-season game against Severstal on Saturday.
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Tatar top remaining free agent
Weeks away from training camp opening, there’s still a number of remaining free agents without home.
Over the last week we’ve seen some players begin to ink professional tryouts, too. Among them are defenceman Nathan Beaulieu, who inked one with the Carolina Hurricanes, as well as forwards Alex Chiasson and Austin Watson, heading to the Boston Bruins’ and Tampa Bay Lightning’s camp, respectively.
Of the top 100 free agents listed by Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli ahead of free agency opening on July 1st, only seven remain:
| Rank | Player | Pos | Age | Team | Cap Hit | GP | G | PTS | AFP Projection |
| 16 | Patrick Kane | RW | 34 | NYR | $10.5M | 73 | 21 | 57 | 3 x $5.75m |
| 35 | Max Comtois | LW | 24 | ANA | $2.04M | 64 | 9 | 19 | 2 x $1.93m |
| 36 | Tomas Tatar | LW | 32 | NJD | $4.5M | 82 | 20 | 48 | 3 x $3.3m |
| 61 | Noah Gregor | RW | 24 | SJS | $950K | 57 | 10 | 17 | 2 x $1.2m |
| 62 | Jaroslav Halak | G | 38 | NYR | $1.5M | 25 | 2.72 | .903 | 1 x $1.1m |
| 74 | Paul Stastny | C | 37 | CAR | $1.5M | 73 | 9 | 22 | 1 x $1.6m |
| 75 | Phil Kessel | RW | 35 | VGK | $1.5M | 82 | 14 | 36 | 1 x $1.1m |
Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.
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