Wednesday 29 February 2012

NHL Draft Prospect Report (Alex Galchenyuk)

2012 NHL Draft Prospect Report
Prospect: Alex Galchenyuk
Date of Birth: February 12th, 1994
Place of Birth: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Height: 6’1 Weight: 200 lbs
Shoots: Left
Position: Center
Team: Sarnia Sting of the OHL
Draft Eligible: 2012
Alex Galchenyuk, possibly the most underrated prospect in this year’s up-coming NHL Entry Draft and not because people don’t know who he is or because he plays in an obscure league or market. But because he hasn’t played a single game since he had a serious knee injury that has kept him out of action all year. Galchenyuk was the 1st overall pick of Sarnia in the 2010 OHL Priority Selection Draft after putting together an outstanding season with Chicago Young Americans of the MWEHL (44 goals,43 assists in 38 games played). He had the hockey world wondering what he could do in the OHL in his rookie season, possibly the hardest junior league to play in and he didn’t disappoint them. Finishing the year with 31 goals and 83 points good enough for 3rd in the entire CHL in rookie scoring, finishing behind only Nail Yakupov (101 points) and Sven Bartschi (85 points) both of which hold an age advantage. Galchenyuk plays much like a typical North American in the sense that he plays a very strong puck protection game. However this isn’t your typical North American, the American born Russian also has the ability to tantalize opponents with his wizard like stick handling skills and ability to be creative in a one on one situation.
After a summer in which he represented Team USA at the 2011 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, and left many people wanting more after what most would call a “disappointing performance” after finishing with only 3 goals and 4 points in 4 games. Alex was ready to show the critics and NHL General Managers that, the tournament was an abnormality and not the trend to expect. With expectations high on not only himself but from everyone around him, Alex was set to deliver until his season abruptly came to a premature end when he suffered a serious knee injury before playing a regular season game.
Even though he hasn’t played a single game yet this year scouts still like his ability thread the puck through tight areas, his quick release, his top speed and agility is good although he doesn’t possess the quickest feet, his vision, hockey sense and how well he sees the ice. Alex has a good size body and a strong stick which makes it hard to knock him off the puck, and is a machine in the offensive zone which leads to him creating space for his line mates. Galchenyuk projects to be a playmaker first and foremost but he also owns an accurate and lightning quick shot that will certainly keep his opponents honest.  
Scouts will certainly be watching closely as Galchenyuk gears up to return to action, since many have a sense that his injury could potentially delay this young kids development. With a strong showing he could end this speculation and show the scouts and many others why he was ranked as a top 3 prospect and potential #1 prospect coming into this season. Galchenyuk has many question marks surrounding him but I wouldn’t expect it to affect him come draft day. Whichever team drafts him should be thankful because had he not have suffered this injury he might not of ended up with that franchise.
NHL Potential: Top line center/franchise player
Draft Ranking: 5th overall-8th overall
Strong Points:
• Outstanding vision
• Top End Speed
• Plays well in traffic
• Lightning quick release
• Phenomenal stick handler
• Good defensive awareness
• Hockey Sense
• Passing ability

Weak Points:
• Increase his strength (specifically in his surgically repaired knee) and add strength to frame to handle the wear and tear of an NHL season
• Maintain defensive focus
• Develop his neutral zone and defensive zone judgement
• Improve his physical game
NHL Comparison:
- Marian Hossa
Fun Facts:
- Galchenyuk’s father was a professional hockey player, who also shares the same name
- Galchenyuk was drafted in the 2011 KHL Draft, 25th overall by Atlant Mytishchi
- Galchenyuk is an avid tweeter where he can be followed @AGally94
You can also reach us at @PuckCentralHQ

Q&A With Alex Galchenyuk!

PuckCentralHQ: Hey thanks so much for this! and sorry about the changing accounts thing, the other one got susended I guess. haha
Alex Galchenyuk: No p

P.I.: So I guess ill start by asking about how your feeling since the surgery? Is everything coming along as planned?
AG: I feel good

PI: Great to hear. Do you think you'll be ready for the playoffs? I know you're not in a position to give out a lot of info, but do you think you're close to a return?
AG: I'm going day by day no date. Maybe couple games b4 playoffs or playoffs

PI: You must be anxious to return then? Do you think your injury will hurt your draft stock at all or do you think you can still be a high pick?
AG: Yea I can't wait. I think I can go out and play the way I can it won't hurt  at all

PI: Despite the injury you're still ranked in the top 10 in many scouts eyes, this must be exciting for you, do you think about the draft a lot?
AG: Yeah I think it's bc if u look in the NHL acl injury didn't hurt the players like malkin,datsyuk,hossa,franzen,kronwall and more.... No I don't really think about the draft I really think how to get back and better than I was. and it's only march so


PI: That's true, seems like you've done your home work on acl injuries. Have you had pro players reach out to you with words of encouragement?
AG: Cammalieri tweeted that, don't worry about the draft and everything

PI: That must have been nice. I know it's getting late so i'll try and sum this up aha. I know this is about you but I have to ask. What's it like playing with Nail Yakupov, he's obviously an elite talent, do you think you guys make each other better as players?
AG: Well some people think ohh it must be so nice to play w Nail haha but its not easy lol bc he likes to play with the puck, I like to play with the puck but I think we fio and had some chemistry and hopefully I comeback and we will have that chemy that we had last year or better

PI: I think if the chemistry got even better Sarnia would be unstoppable lol just two more questions if you don't mind! Who do you try to model your game after? or do you just try and be ''Alex Galchenyuk"?
AG: Just Alex Galchenyuk no copying anyone

PI: I thought that might be your answer haha So last one here. You were born in America but you're obviously very much Russian, so which country will you be representing in the future? and briefly, why?
AG: USA I think bc I was born in the states and I mean I just like it more

PI: Well I definitely look forward to seeing you on the international stage someday, although i'll be cheering for Canada lol Anyway thank you so much for taking the time to do this! It means a lot and I can tell where ever you get drafted you'll be a fan favorite!
AG: No problem. Thanks for having me.

PI: Anytime, and best of luck with the rest of the recovery and  the playoffs!
AG: Thanks


This Q&A was conducted via Twitter DirectMessage.

Follow Alex at: @AGally94

Contact us at :
Twitter:PuckCentralHQ
Email:puck.central@gmail.com

Update

Hey everyone! Sorry about the mock draft not getting up last night, we had some technically difficulties with our twitter page (@PuckCentralHQ), the draft should be up tonight!. Also I have some great news, last night we had a Q&A interview with Alex Galchenyuk of the Sarnia Sting, a prospect who will likely be in the top 10 of the upcoming NHL Draft in June!. I look forward to sharing this with you all, and you can look for it to be posted in the next couple of days. With that said you can also look for the following in the next couple of days:


-Puck Insiders monthly Mock Draft
-Q&A with Alex Galchenyuk+Prospect report
-Prospect Reports
-Team draft report


Any questions or request you can reach us at:
Twitter: @PuckCentralHQ
Email: Puck.Central@gmail.com

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Welcome!

Hey everyone, this is a blog site dedicated to the wonderful world of hockey. We'll be covering a wide variety of things in the sport, but we'll mostly be focusing on the NHL and Prospects, both drafted and undrafted.





This site consists of two writers, Bradley, and Trevor. Our opinions often differ so I'm sure you'll find us going against one another from time to time so hopefully you'll find some form of entertainment from it but we're sorry if this bothers, or annoys you for some reason. We likely won't reveil who writes each article as each article will be written by ''Puck Insiders'', but you'll likely be able to tell the difference between our writting.



If there's a certain prospect or player you'd like us to cover you can drop us a line at Puck.Central@gmail.com or you can reach us on our twitter page @puck_central.



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