Avalanche reassign former first-round pick to AHL

Following their victory over Arizona on Friday, the Colorado Avalanche announced (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned forward Alex Galchenyuk back to AHL Colorado.

The 29-year-old was brought up on an emergency recall after Artturi Lehkonen suffered a broken finger, but Galchenyuk wasn’t exactly productive during that stretch. In the six games he played, he didn’t record a point while averaging less than six minutes per contest. For the season, Galchenyuk has played in ten games with the Avs, putting up zeros across the board offensively.

To his credit, Galchenyuk has been much more productive in the minors, tallying 15 goals and 18 assists in 33 games with the Eagles. His time with them has been the longest minor league stint of his career as prior to this season, he had played in all of six career AHL contests.

With Lehkonen and Evan Rodrigues (concussion protocol) both out of the lineup, the Avs will need to make a recall prior to Sunday’s game.  It could be Galchenyuk again but with his performance being underwhelming thus far, they might look to give someone else an opportunity to make an impression.