3 Toronto Maple Leafs Who Should Be Worried About Job Security
No. 3: Alex Galchenyuk
Who’s Out? Alex Galchenyuk
Who’s In? Joe Thornton or Ilya Mikheyev
Once Zach Hyman returns from injury, the left-wing position is going to get very crowded. As such, it could mean an end to the Alex Galchenyuk experiment in Toronto.
In 18 games, Galchenyuk has two goals and seven points. Although Mikheyev (three goals in last 21 games) and Thornton (one goal in last 28 games) aren’t contributing much offensively either, they provide more intangibles than Galchenyuk .
Galchenyuk is a top-six winger, and nothing more. If he’s not contributing offensively, he’s kind of useless in every other asset of the game.
Mikheyev may not score much either, but he’s active. He seems to get a scoring chance every night and is very effective on the penalty-kill.
Thornton may be a shell of himself offensively, but his last two games against Winnipeg proved exactly why you want him in the lineup. He showed leadership through his fiery words in the penalty box and seemed to have a lot more gas in the tank, than normal.
Although Galchenyuk may have more scoring upside, Mikheyev and Thornton are better suited for the bottom-six and can contribute in other ways than scoring.
Next. Jack Campbell is Modern Day Version of Grant Fuhr. dark
With a handful of games left until the playoffs start, let’s hope Jumbo was conserving his energy all season, because if he can play that same style he did on Saturday night, he’ll be a very effective player for the Toronto Maple Leafs this postseason.