Reason for Alex Galchenyuk's contract termination revealed

Alex Galchenyuk. Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

Reason for Alex Galchenyuk's contract termination days after signing revealed

By Mike Santa Barbara | Last updated 7/13/23

To the surprise of many on Thursday, the Arizona Coyotes announced they were terminating the contract of Alex Galchenyuk only days after agreeing to a free-agent contract with the forward.

Now, details have emerged explaining the Coyotes' reasoning. According to Katie Strang of The Athletic, Scottsdale Police arrested Galchenyuk on July 9, charging him with private property hit and run, disorderly conduct, failure to obey, resisting arrest and threatening or intimidating.

The Arizona Coyotes have placed forward Alex Galchenyuk on unconditional waivers for purposes of terminating his contract. The Club will have no further comment at this time.
— Arizona Coyotes PR (@AZCoyotesPR) July 13, 2023

The 29-year-old forward signed a one-year deal with the Coyotes only 12 days ago. However, Galchenyuk's incident over the weekend obviously gave the Coyotes pause. Earlier Thursday, word leaked that the Coyotes were waiving Galchenyuk due to an "off-ice situation," leaving the hockey world to speculate about why. While there is little else to go on aside from preliminary reports, it's obvious whatever Galchenyuk was involved in wasn't something the Coyotes weren't willing to overlook.

While this might seem like the end of the story for the Coyotes, Greg Wyshynski of ESPN points out that this may be only the beginning, with the NHL Players Association likely to get involved.

The third overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft by the Montreal Canadians, Galchenyuk has played 11 seasons in the league, including one with the Coyotes (2021-22). Galchenyuk has recorded 354 points (146 goals, 208 assists) over his career, but it's possible he's played his last NHL game.

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