Alex Galchenyuk was arrested on July 9 which lead to his contract termination with the Arizona Coyotes.
The Arizona Coyotes sent shockwaves to the hockey world by putting forward Alex Galchenyuk on unconditional waivers for purposes of terminating his contract
The reasoning behind this decision is now perfectly clear.
“Scottsdale Police Department has confirmed to The Athletic that Alex Galchenyuk was arrested on July 9 on a number of charges including private property hit and run, disorderly conduct, failure to obey, resisting arrest, Threatening or Intimidating,” The Athletic’s Katie Strang tweeted.
The Coyotes released a statement Friday condemning Galchenyuk’s actions and confirmed why they waived the veteran forward.
“We are aware of the incident involving Alex Galchenyuk and strongly condemn this type of behavior. Once the Club was made aware of the allegations, we immediately began the process of terminating his Standard Player’s Contract through the proper channels in conjunction with the National Hockey League. As a result, the Arizona Coyotes today have exercised the team’s right to terminate the contract of Alex Galchenyuk due to a material breach of the terms of his Standard Player’s Contract. The Club will have no further comment at this time.”
The 29-year-old was drafted with the third overall pick by the Montreal Canadiens back in 2012 but has since bounced around to multiple teams including the Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, Minnesota Wild, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche.
In 654 total NHL games, Galchenyuk has 146 goals, 208 assists and 354 points. The NHLPA is reviewing Galchenyuk’s incident according to PHNX Sports’ Craig Morgan. Time will tell what the future holds for Galchenyuk in the NHL.