With pre-season now over for the Montreal Canadiens and the team ready to start the season in Buffalo to visit the Sabres on Wednesday, we can feel a breath of fresh air surrounding the Habs after an intriguing training camp and the return of All-Star Carey Price in net. Add in the arrival of veteran defenseman Shea Weber, spectacular winger Alex Radulov as well as gritty forward Andrew Shaw, and most Canadiens fans tend to forget who will be the most exciting player this season: Alex Galchenyuk. The 22-year-old American and former third-overall draft pick in 2012 will start the season as a centre between sniper Max Pacioretty and über-pest Brendan Gallagher, after playing with offensive black hole Lars Eller and disappointing Russian Alex Semin at the beginning of last year.

After signing a two-year bridge contract worth $5.6 million (or $2.8 million/year) prior to last season, Galchenyuk recorded 30 goals and 26 helpers for 56 points in 82 contests. The left-handed pivot finished the season strong, notching 16 goals and 6 assists for 22 points in 22 games. Now playing on the team’s first line and first power play unit, Galchenyuk is ready to step up his overall game and breakout to become a true offensive threat every shift.

In fantasy hockey circles, there is a strong theory that fourth-year players are prime for breakout years and that they usually increase their scoring output by 15% to 25% in that very important year in the development of a young player. Well, Chucky managed to record 10 more points than in 2014-15 when he scored 46 points in 80 games in his fourth season. There are good reasons to believe that the skilled forward has all the talent in the world to improve those increasing numbers dramatically in 2016-17.

Chart from HockeyDB.com

The prediction seems fairly logical considering his ice time has been steadily increasing over his young career under the tutelage of head coach Michel Therrien, known to be hard on young players. He played on average 12:19 per game during his rookie campaign, 14:24 per game in his sophomore season, and finally 16:26 and 16:15 per game during the last two seasons, respectively. It is safe to assume that Galchenyuk will/should play on average 18 minutes per match this season as the team’s first-line centreman.

As a result of this increased ice time, Galchenyuk should get more power play time with an improved unit under Kirk Muller’s lead and thus recording more points with the man advantage (he had only 16 PP points in 2015-16). Did you know that the young American had only six career power play goals in NHL 193 games before scoring nine last season? Coupled with better linemates, an improved offensive flair and more confidence in his über-talent, Galchenyuk should easily stagger the 65-point mark this year and have a career year.

If Galchenyuk can improve at the face-off circle (he won 47.93% of his face-offs last year), it will make Michel Therrien’s job easier to leave him on the ice in tough defensive situations and late in tight games to preserve the lead. The electrifying youngster plays with more confidence and determination now that he has matured into a well-rounded hockey player.

Finally, all of the above factors lead me to believe that Alex Galchenyuk will have a very solid campaign as he’s maturing and sliding into the #1 centre spot in Montreal.

Fearless prediction: 80 games, 37 goals and 32 assists for 69 points, 32 PIM and +10 +/- differential.

Feel free to make your own prediction in the comments.

– No Foolin’ Fred Poulin